Don't Let Me Go
by IllStandByYou87
Summary: Epilogue up! Read and Review. Thanks for reading the whole thing, the sequel will be up soon!
1. Default Chapter

Okay people. I got another idea and I went with it. Read and Review please! Also if you don't like it give constructive criticism, please don't say 'it sucks.' 

I don't own Third Watch, but I do own Kaylee and Theresa.

here's the story oh yeah, it's kinda A/U, but I'm not really sure cuz Cruz is really sane in this fic.

Chapter 1

"No, leave me alone. Don't hurt me mama, please." A little girl was backing away from her mother. 

"Girl, get over here, now. You don't know what pain is. "

Cruz stood at the bus stop watching this. ~I'll only move if she hurts the girl.~ 

The girl turned and ran. She was looking back to see how close her mother was to her and she wasn't looking where she was going. She ran right into Cruz. ~Sonofabitch. That hurt.~ 

The girl looked up at Cruz. "Don't let her hurt me again." The girl couldn't have been more than 7 or 8. 

"I won't." Cruz reached down and picked up the girl. "What's you name?" she whispered.

"Kaylee." 

"Okay, Kaylee. I'm Maritza."

Kaylee nodded and held on to Cruz tighter. 

The girl's mother found Cruz holding her daughter. "Give me the girl." she whispered.

"No." Cruz replied.

"Listen bitch, give me the girl or I'll press charges for kidnapping."

Kaylee started to cry. Cruz felt her little body shaking in her arms. "Guess what?"

The girl's mother looked at her furious.

" I'm a cop and you're going to jail for a very long time." Cruz brushed Kaylee's hair away from her ear. "What's her name?"

"Theresa. Theresa Castillo." Kaylee whispered in-between tears.

"Okay. I'm gonna put you down so I can arrest her."

"No!" Kaylee cried. "Please don't let me go."

"Okay, okay." Cruz walked over to Theresa while carrying Kaylee. "Sit."

"Where?"

"On the ground." 

Theresa looked like she was gonna say something, but instead she sat. 

Cruz moved Kaylee around, reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell. She dialed the precinct.

"5-5 Precinct."

"It's Cruz. I have a child abuse case. I need a bus and send someone over here to pick up the mother."

"!0-4 Sarge. Umm the only available officer we have is Bosco. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. I's fine.

"What's your location?" 

"23 and Lex." She hung up the phone. "Okay Kaylee, we're gonna take you to the hospital."

"Why?"

"To make sure you don't have other injuries, and to take picture of your bones."

"Will you come with me?" Kaylee whimpered.

"Uh....Yeah sure." 

Kaylee stopped crying, instead she put her head on Cruz's shoulder and tried to fall asleep. 

Cruz walked around with Kaylee, trying to calm her down while keeping an eye on the so-called mother. In about 15 minutes, the bus showed up and Bosco got out of a car, followed by Faith. 

"Sarge." Bosco yelled.

Cruz turned. "Keep your voice down. I think she's asleep." Cruz looked at Faith. "Officer." she nodded.

"Sergeant." Faith noticed the little girl. "You want me to take her?"

Cruz nodded. 

Kaylee's eyes popped open. "No! I wanna stay with her." 

"Why?" Faith asked. 

"I feel safe." 

"Once again, why?" 

"Faith." Cruz snapped. "Now is not the time." She walked away from Faith. "Hey, listen. That's Faith. She's a cop too. She'll make you safe."

"No! I wanna stay with you."

"Okay, but can you stay with Bosco, the other cop while I talk to Faith?"

Kaylee thought. "Will I be able to see you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Kaylee finally agreed.

"Okay. Come on." Cruz and Kaylee walked over to them where Bosco was reading the non-mother her Miranda Rights. "Bosco." Cruz whispered.

"What?" He snapped. He turned around to see Cruz holding the little girl. 

"This is Kaylee. Can you hold her while I talk to Faith?"

"Why would you..." he started but after seeing Cruz's face said, "Yeah." He leant over and took Kaylee from Cruz. "Hi. I'm Bosco."

Cruz walked away and found Faith. "Yokas."

Faith turned. "What?" She noticed the girl wasn't with her. "Where's your clone?"

"She's not my clone, she's a scared little girl. Don't you have any sympathy for her?"

"Of course. What do you want?"

"Well, Bosco has her now, but not for long. I have to go to the hospital with her."

"Yeah and?" 

Cruz~ This is killing me, but she's better with kids.~ "She needs to get a rape kit, just incase her mother ever had any boyfriends. I don't know how to say that to 7 year old. I want you to come with us while Bosco takes the mother in."

"Why?"

"You have kids. You know how they work better."

"You're doing a fine job. I have to go with Bosco." She turned around and started to walk away. "You know I'm surprised you're not asking him to do this."

"I would, but he knows shit about kids." 

"Very true." 

"Come for her."

"Fine." 

Cruz and Faith went over to Bosco and Kaylee. 

"Finally! What took you so long?" Kaylee's voice shook a little. 

"It's okay. I'm here now."

"Here." Bosco dumped Kaylee on Cruz. 

"Nice Bosco." Faith gave him a look.

"Okay muneqita." Cruz said. "We're gonna ride in an ambulance."

"She's coming too?"

"Hi. I'm Faith." Faith smiled at the little girl. "What's your name?"

"Kaylee." she answered. 

"How would you feel if Faith rode with you and I sat up front?"

"No!" she shouted.

"Okay okay. Just an idea." 

Over Kaylee's head, Faith mouthed, 'What's wrong with this kid?'

Cruz mouthed back. 'I have no idea.' "There's two paramedics, Kim and Carlos. One of them is gonna be in the back with us and the other one is driving."

"I want Kim with us and the other one up front with her." 

"Kaylee, do you mean Faith?"

"Yeah."

"Then say her name." 

Faith~ Wow. She's not ½ bad at this.~

"Okay. Carlos goes up with Faith."

"Good girl."

Kim and Carlos got out of the bus. They walked over to Cruz and Faith. 

"Okay and who is this adorable little one?" Kim asked.

Kaylee smiled. "Kaylee." 

"Hi Kaylee, I'm Kim. And this is Carlos." She turned to Cruz. "Are you both coming with us?"

They nodded. 

"Why are you both coming with us?"

"She needs a R.K." Cruz answered.

"Oh." Kim looked down. 

"What's a R.K.?" Kaylee asked.

"It's a.." Cruz stumbled over her words.

"Red kat." Faith answered.

"Cat's aren't red!" Kaylee exclaimed. 

"They're not?" Cruz asked flashing Faith a look of thanks.

"Okay, so I'm guessing Faith will be riding up front and Cruz will be back with Kaylee?" Kim guessed.

They nodded again. 

"Carlos you wanna drive?"

"No, but apparently I have no choice."

Kim smiled. "No you don't."

"Come on Faith." Carlos grumbled. "Women." he muttered.

"I heard that." Faith replied and smacked him on the head as they walked to the front.

"Okay ladies. Hop in." Kim opened the doors to the bus.

"Kaylee, we're gonna lay you down on here, okay?"

"But I'm not hurt. Can't I sit in your lap?" 

Cruz looked at Kim.

"Yeah, sure." Kim answered. 

In the front of the bus, Carlos and Faith were talking about how Kaylee seemed to like Cruz.

Within 5 minutes they were at the hospital. 

"Okay, Kaylee, I need you to get up so I can get up."

"Here Kaylee, you want me to hold you while she gets up?"

Kaylee shook her head.

"Kaylee." Cruz said. "Let Kim hold you."

"Fine."

Kim picked Kaylee up while Cruz got herself together. 

"Thank you Kim." 

Kim handed Kaylee to Cruz. When Kaylee was safely in Cruz's arms she put her head down on Cruz's shoulder again.

Kim caught Cruz's eye and mouthed, 'She seems to like you.'

Cruz nodded.

Faith and Carlos got out and met up with Kim, Cruz and Kaylee.

"Hey guys." Carlos said. 

"Shut up.", all 3 women whispered.

"I give up." Carlos turned around and went back into the bus to wait for Kim.

Cruz carried Kaylee into the ER with Kim and Faith on either side. 

Nurse Mary Procter looked up and saw them. 

"7 year old female, needs a R.K, child abuse case. Also needs a check for other injuries."

Nurse Procter nodded. She escorted Cruz, Kaylee and Faith into Exam 1. 

"Bye Kim." Faith said. Cruz nodded.

"Bye." 

"Kaylee." Cruz whispered. "Come on muneqita, now isn't the time to go to sleep."

Kaylee opened her eyes and looked around. 

Cruz walked over to a bed and placed Kaylee in it. 

"No." Kaylee reached for Cruz.

"Don't worry, baby, I'm right here and so is Faith. Let's get you comfortable."

Kaylee nodded and went under the thin blanket. 

Nurse Procter motioned to Faith to come into the hall with her.

"That girl needs a rape kit?"

Faith nodded. "And X-Rays. The mother could've had boyfriends over and y'know or she could have shoved something up there herself."

Nurse Procter sighed. "Okay. Is Cruz gonna stay with her during it?"

Faith nodded.

"Why not you?"

"She doesn't like me. For some strange reason she likes Cruz."

"I'll send a nurse in soon to bring up her to X-Ray."

"Thank you."

Faith went back in Exam 1. Cruz looked up at her. 

"Soon." 

Cruz looked down at the little girl whose eyes were closed and she was lying on the pillow peacefully, her long brown hair spread out. "Who would do that to a child?" she whispered.

"I don't know." Faith looked surprised at the emotion Cruz was showing. 

Cruz noticed Faith looking at her. "What? I'm not completely void of sentiment."

"Okay." 

Kaylee's eyes popped open. "Ritza. Ritza. I'm scared." She sat up in bed breathing heavily.

"Shh. Shh, it's okay little one. Everything's okay now. Me and Faith aren't gonna let anyone touch you. Turn on your back and I'll rub it for you."

Kaylee listened to Cruz and turned over. Cruz began rubbing her back with one hand, tickling her. 

Kaylee giggled. 

Cruz~ That's how a 7 year old should sound.~ "Okay little one. First I think they're gonna take picture of your bones to see if you ever broke anything and then you get a special test, that's a surprise." ~I can't believe I told her a rape kit is a surprise.~

Kaylee turned back over just as a nurse entered the room with a wheelchair. 

Everyone looked at the nurse. 

"I'm gonna wheel her up to X-Ray." She looked around. "Whose going?"

Cruz and Faith looked at each other. 

"Ritza! You go!" Kaylee shouted. 

Cruz looked at Kaylee and smiled. "Of course. C'mon chicita. Let's go." Cruz reached over and picked Kaylee up from the bed. 

The nurse looked at her. 

"I'll carry her up myself."

The nurse nodded. "Okay."

Cruz~ Like she had a choice.~ 

The nurse walked out the door and Cruz followed. 

They walked to the elevators and got in. They got out on the 4th floor and went into the waiting room. The nurse walked over to the window and told the receptionist they were here. 

The receptionist looked up and saw Cruz. "They're expecting you. Go on back." 

The nurse nodded and motioned for Cruz to follow her. They walked down a long hallway. The nurse reached a room and went inside. Cruz followed with Kaylee. "The X-ray technican will be here soon."

"Okay." Cruz sat down and put Kaylee on her lap. 

5 minutes later the technican walked in. "Kaylee Castillo?"

"That's her."

"And you are?"

"Sergeant Cruz."

"Okay, I'm Michael. You can just lay her down here." He pointed at the table.

Cruz put her down. 

Kaylee started to whimper.

"Shh. I'm right here." 

Michael arranged her a little bit and put the protector vest on her. "Okay ma'am and come behind here with me."

They went behind the wall while the machine took endless pictures. Michael turned to Cruz. "Now we're looking for bones that healed broken?"

"Yes." Cruz answered shortly. 

After 5 minutes of X-Rays, Cruz finally went over and picked up Kaylee. 

"Okay, if we find anything we'll let you know."

"You do that." Cruz told him and walked out of the room. Cruz and Kaylee made it back downstairs and back into Exam 1. Cruz put Kaylee back into bed and saw Faith enter the room. 

"They find anything?"

"They're looking." 

After about 10 minutes of silence, another nurse walked in.

"Hi. I'm Nurse Simpson. I'm here for the umm.." She looked at Faith who mouthed 'special test.'

"...special test."

"Okay." 

"I'm gonna step outside for a minute, okay Sergeant?"

Cruz nodded. "Okay. Now Kaylee. She's doing a ticklish test on you. First she's gonna tickle your armpits, then your chest, then your toes and then she's gonna stick a little ticklish thing inside your umm.... special area and we can see how ticklish you are."

Kaylee nodded. "Okay."

Nurse Simpson took a seat and tickled Kaylee's armpits then went down to her chest and tickled her toes, all while Kaylee giggled. "Okay, here's the special part." 

Cruz told Kaylee to split her legs open and Kaylee did so. Nurse Simpson did the test and was in and out in 30 seconds. "Okay young lady. You are extremely ticklish. I'm gonna look for Faith outside and tell her the news. You can go to sleep now."

Kaylee nodded and closed her eyes. 

Cruz caught Nurse Simpson's eyes and saw they had tears in them. ~Crap.~

Nurse Simpson left Cruz and Kaylee alone and bumped into Faith in the hall.

"Officer?"

"Yeah. Did you do the test?"

"Yes. The little girl was excellent and so was Sergeant Cruz. She made it into a ticklish test. But the little girl definately had vaginal tearing." 

"I see. Thank you."

Faith opened the door and saw one of Kaylee's eyes open. After she saw it was Faith, she closed it again. 

"Sergeant. I need a word."

Kaylee's eyes flew open. "Don't leave!"

"Shh. We're just gonna go over there, okay?"

Kaylee nodded and closed her eyes again.

Faith and Cruz walked over to the corner of the room. 

"Simpson told you?" Faith asked. 

"No, but she had tears in her eyes, so I'm assuming it wasn't good news."

"She said she definatley had vaginal tearing."

"Dios! Who would do that to a little child. She couldn't even fight back."

"She probably could if she had any idea of what was happening to her. But she didn't. I'm not saying it was her fault." Faith knew that rape was a difficult subject for Cruz and really wasn't thrilled about talking about it with her. "Anyway um what do you wanna do? It's kinda late.." Faith looked at her watch and saw it was 11:34pm. "...okay very late."

Cruz looked at Faith. "I wanna stay with her, but I'm not good with kids and I'll probably say the wrong thing."

"You're doing a great job so far."

Cruz looked at Faith.

"You know, I'd be the last person to give you a compliment. But it's true. Your good with her."

"I don't remember you being this blunt, but thank you." Cruz replied.

"Okay how about this? You stay with her here and I'll have my cell on right next to my bed and if she gets annoying, call me."

"Okay." Cruz agreed. 

"Okay. My cell is 917-555-8754. 'Nite."

"'Nite."Cruz replied.

Faith walked out of the room, wondering why she gave the woman that shot her her cell phone. She realized it's all for Kaylee and that she'll do anything to get her better. 

Cruz ran out the door. "Yokas." she shouted.

Faith turned. She walked back over. 

"Will you be here tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Cruz~I never thought we'd be able to have a civil conversation. This *is* all for Kaylee though.~ 

Cruz turned around and Nurse Procter was right behind her. "She should probably spend the night here since we need to check the X-Rays. People are doing that right now."

Cruz nodded. "Are you gonna admit her?"

"No. She'll stay down here. Are you gonna stay with her?"

Cruz nodded.

"Okay. Good. I'm gonna check and see if the X-Rays are back."

Nurse Procter turned and walked away. 

Cruz~ This has been a very weird night.~ She stood outside Exam 1 watching Kaylee sleep from outside.

Finally Cruz walked back into Exam 1 and was followed by Nurse Procter. 

"Sergeant. I need to speak to you." she whispered.

Cruz realized that Kaylee was asleep because she didn't make any noise when the nurse said that.

They stepped outside. 

"This little girl has been very badly abused. She's had her right wrist broken twice, her left thumb and her right ring and pointer broken, she's had a broken ankle, most of her ribs broken at least once and there's a small indentation in her skull where somebody probably slammed it into a table, so she probably had a concussion also."

Cruz stared at her in shock. ~I thought it was gonna be bad but this is ridiculous.~ "So then this is all abuse? There's no way this girl can just be really spastic?"

"Not to have this many bones broken."

"Thank you."

"Should we call A.C.S?

"No. We'll stay here tonight and I'll take her into the station with me tomorrow and we can figure out what to do then. Thank you though."

"No problem and tell her I hope she feels better."

Cruz nodded, turned around and walked back into Exam 1. She pulled up a stool and sat on the side of the bed watching Kaylee sleep and wondering who would hurt this little girl and why they would hurt her so badly. 

TBC..... 

Okay people! Tell me what you think and if you think I should bother continuing it or not. 


	2. Chapter 2

Hi people! I'm sorry I couldn't get this out soon but I had a fricken 10 pg health report to do. School is soooooooooooooooooooo much fun, lol. Newayz..... Here's chapter 2. Enjoy!!!! Don't forget to read and review!

Chapter 2

Cruz sat on the stool, watching Kaylee breathe. 

Nurse Procter came in silently watching Cruz. "Sergeant." she whispered.

Cruz turned around and waited for the nurse to speak. 

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but your gonna have to take her. I need the bed." 

Cruz turned back to look at Kaylee. "What am I supposed to do with her?" she snapped quietly.

Nurse Procter shook her head. "I'm sorry."

Cruz stood up and went out of the room. Nurse Procter followed her. Cruz closed the door to Exam 1 and turned back to the nurse. 

"She's 7 years old. It's about..." she looked at her watch. ".... dammit, it's now 2:47 in the morning. What am I supposed to do with her? I'm not taking her to another hospital 'cause that's just asinine. I don't think I'm allowed to take her home with me and even if I did, she has nowhere to sleep unless she takes my bed and I take the couch. If I take her into the precinct she won't have anywhere to sleep. So tell me, what the hell am I supposed to do with a poor innocent 7 year old little girl?" Cruz ranted.

Nurse Procter looked at Cruz. "I don't know Sergeant, but I need the bed."

"Take another fricken bed. Let the girl sleep."

Nurse Procter was starting to get mad. "Look, Sergeant, I know how you feel but I need the bed." She enunciated the last 3 words. 

"And I know what *you're* saying, but this little girl has been through enough. Let her stay until 6. I promise I'll take her then."

Nurse Procter threw up her arms and walked away from Exam 1.

"I'll take that as a yes." Cruz shouted. She turned and walked back into Exam 1, silently closing the door behind her. She sat down at her stool besides Kaylee's bed. ~Since when do I listen to the rules? I could've taken her to my place. Oh well. She'll sleep til 6, then I'll take her to the house and she'll go into the A.C.S. system and get lost and probably kidnapped. I can't let that happen to her. She trusts me and she feels safe with me, why I don't know. If I let that happen to her, I....~ Cruz's thoughts were interrupted when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kaylee move. She leaned over and brushed Kaylee's hair off her face. 

Kaylee's eyes opened and her eyes started to wander around the room, scared. Her eyes landed on Cruz and Cruz saw the fear in her eyes go away. 

"Hi." Cruz whispered.

"Hi." Kaylee whispered back, sleepily. 

Cruz~ I gotta get her outta here.~ "We're gonna get outta here now that you're awake, ok?"

"What time is it?"

Cruz looked at her watch. "About 3."

Kaylee nodded. "Okay." she whispered. 

Cruz helped her up slowly and put down the railings on both sides of the bed. Kaylee swung her legs down and waited for Cruz to pick her up. Cruz reached across and picked her up. Kaylee held on to Cruz tight and Cruz held on to Kaylee with all her might, but not squeezing the little girl to death. 

They walked out of Exam 1 and walked right by the admit desk. No one asked any questions and they walked out the door of the E.R. 

"Where are we going?" Kaylee asked once they were out on the street. 

"I'm not sure yet. It's 3am, so nothings open. We can't go eat or go shopping. I think there's a 24 hour diner around here so we'll go there and get you something to eat." 

Kaylee yawned and put her head down on Cruz's shoulder. 

"Are you still tired?"

"A little." Kaylee yawned again. 

Through the streetlight, Cruz looked into Kaylee's brown eyes that were about to close. Cruz saw so much sadness in those sweet brown eyes. 

"Okay muneqita, we're gonna walk a little bit to see if the diner I'm thinking of it open." Cruz wasn't very thrilled about walking at 3 in the morning with a 7 year old. They walked for 5 more minutes. 

Cruz~Damn, this kid is getting heavier and heavier.~ 

Finally they reached the diner Cruz was thinking of and fortunately it was a 24 hr diner. Cruz yanked the door open and walked inside. 

There was one lady standing at the counter who was both a host and a waitress. "How may I help you?" she asked. 

Cruz turned to look at the lady and then looked down at Kaylee, practically asleep on her shoulder. She cleared her throat. "We were hungry and you were open so um..." she trailed off, not wanting to say too much. 

"Alrighty then. Sit wherever you want and I'll be with you shortly." 

"Thank you." Cruz carried Kaylee over to a booth in the corner. She set her down gently. "Chica, wake up. We're gonna eat now, okay?" 

Kaylee's eyes opened and she looked around the place. "Okay." she whispered. 

Cruz sat down across from Kaylee and waited for the host/waitress. After a couple of minutes, she came over to them with menus. 

"And how are you ladies doing this.." she checked her watch. "...morning?" She put the menus down on the table.

"Hungry!" Kaylee exclaimed. 

"I think I can fix that. I'm Joey and I'll be your waitress." 

Kaylee looked up at confused. "But you're a girl." 

Joey laughed. "It's a nickname. My real name is Josefina. My mother hated me as you can tell." 

"Oh." 

Joey looked at Cruz and then back at Kaylee. "But I'll bet your mommy doesn't hate you." 

Cruz saw Kaylee's mouth about to open so she said, "No, I don't.", quickly without missing a beat. 

Kaylee looked at Cruz, confused. Cruz smiled at Joey. "Baby girl, look at the menu and tell Joey what you want." 

Kaylee picked up the menu if front of her and started looking through it.

Cruz looked at Joey. "I'll just have coffee please. If you could bring it with whatever she gets, that'd be great."

Joey nodded. 

"Nikki, have you decided yet?" Cruz asked. 

Kaylee looked up at her. "Huh?" 

"Do you know what you want?" Cruz repeated. 

"Um... I'll have French Toast." 

"Please." Cruz reminded her.

"Please." Kaylee gave Joey one of her best smiles. 

"You want anything to drink with that?" Joey asked.

Kaylee thought. "Apple juice." 

"Comin right up." Joey took the menus and walked away. 

"Whose Nikki?" Kaylee asked. 

"You." Cruz answered her, matter of factly.

"No. I'm Kaylee. K-A-Y-L-E-E." Kaylee spelt her name out for Cruz incase she forgot. 

"I know that your name is Kaylee, but I didn't want the waitress to know that." Cruz~How the hell do you explain to this a 7 year old?~ "We're playing pretend now. Your Nikki and I'll be..." Cruz trailed off. "How about you name me?" 

"Ooh!!! That could be fun." Kaylee sounded excited. She sat in her seat for a good 5 minutes silently. 

Cruz~ Damn. That's all you gotta do with kids. Let them rename you and it'll keep them busy for awhile.~ 

"Samantha!" Kaylee shouted, pointing at Cruz. 

Cruz~Crap.~ "Shh... sweetie. I know that my name's Samantha." Cruz looked towards the front of the diner to see if Joey heard. 

"You do?" 

"I want Joey to have to guess my name. So if you shout it out, she'll know." 

"Oh. Okay. I get it." Kaylee was quiet until her French Toast came and Cruz's coffee. 

Joey walked over to them carrying a plate of French Toast, a cup of apple juice and Cruz's coffee plus a little spout of milk.. She set the plate and the cup down in front of Kaylee. 

"Yummy." Kaylee picked up the bread and started to take a bite.

"Nikki, We don't eat like that in public places." Cruz gently reminded her, not wanting to start a scene. 

"Fine." Kaylee pouted a bit and then picked up her fork. 

Joey gave Cruz her coffee. 

"Thank you." 

Kaylee practically threw down her French Toast. "Guess what her name is!" she said to Joey. 

"Sweetheart. Joey has to get back to work now, right?" Cruz said looking at Joey. 

"But it's empty." Kaylee pointed out.

Joey laughed. "That it is. Okay, I'll play. Can you tell me what letter it starts with?"

Kaylee looked at Cruz. Cruz sighed. "It starts with an S." 

Kaylee looked back at Joey who pulled up a seat from a table in front of the booth.

"Sarah." Joey guessed. 

Kaylee shook her head back and forth violently. 

"Sherry. Sheila. Sasha. Selena. Susan. Stephanie. Serena. Sharon." Joey kept guessing while Kaylee kept shaking her head. 

Joey threw up her hands in defeat. "I give up!" she said melodramatically. 

"Samantha." Kaylee said in a 'Duh' voice. 

"I was gonna guess that one next." Joey claimed. She looked at her watch. "Ut-oh, I gotta get back to work. When you want the check let me know. Enjoy your French Toast." She got up and put the chair back where it belonged. 

Kaylee continued eating her early breakfast. "Where are we gonna go now?" she asked, when she was done 5 minutes later. 

Cruz swallowed the last of her coffee and looked at her watch. "It's 3:45 in the morning. Nothing's open, well nothing except here. Are you still tired?"

"No." Kaylee said as she yawned. 

Cruz couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah right. Finish your apple juice and we'll go back to my apartment for awhile, okay?" She looked around for Joey, caught her eye and mouthed 'Check.' Joey nodded.

Kaylee picked up the cup and nodded. She gulped it down and sighed happily. 

"You feel better?" Cruz asked. 

The little girl nodded happily as Joey came over to give Cruz the check.

While Cruz read it she asked Kaylee,"You wanna walk or you want me to carry you?" 

"Can you carry me, please?" Kaylee started to give her a puppy dog face. 

"Yes, I can carry you. I live about 10 minutes away, okay?"

"Okay." Kaylee hopped out of the booth and waited for Cruz to get the money out to pay. 

Cruz got the money out of her pocket, stood up, grabbed the check and went over to the counter to pay. She turned around. "Nikki, stay there. I'll be right back."

Kaylee nodded. 

Cruz gave Joey the money. 

"Have a nice day." Joey said. "And take care of your little girl. She's one in a million." 

Cruz nodded. "Thank you. I will." ~And there's no way in hell she's going in the system.~

Cruz walked back over to Kaylee and picked her up. They were walking out the door and Kaylee shouted. "Bye Joey!" 

Joey waved to her and smiled. "Bye." 

Cruz and Kaylee got outside and started walking. 

After 10 minutes they reached Cruz's building. Cruz shifted Kaylee around and got her keys out of her pocket. She opened the door and went up the stairs. When she reached her door, she was exhausted. 

"You still up, Kaylee?"

"Yeah." Kaylee answered sleepily. 

"We're home now." Cruz opened the door and walked straight into her room with Kaylee. She got the covers out and lay Kaylee on the bed gently. Cruz started to walk out the door. 

"Ritza?" 

"Yeah." 

"I like you better than Theresa. Your nicer and you don't hurt me." And with that, Kaylee turned over and was asleep in minutes. 

Cruz stayed in the room for awhile listening to Kaylee's even breathing and thought about what Kaylee said. A little tear came out of her eye and she brushed it away immediately. She walked out the room, closing the door gently behind her. 

She walked to her answering machine just to check if anyone called. There were 2 messages. She hit the button to listen. "1:43 am." 

"Hi Sergeant, it's Faith Yokas. I called the hospital to see if you and Kaylee were okay 'cause I couldn't sleep and they said you weren't there. I called the house and got your number. Give me a call at 212-555-4376, when you get this." There was a dial tone. 

"3:09 am." 

"Hi Sergeant it's Faith Yokas again. I'm starting to get worried about Kaylee now. Call me ASAP." 

Cruz sighed. She picked up the phone and dialed Faith's number. 

"Hello?" A voice answered on the first ring.

"Yokas?" Cruz asked. 

"Sergeant. Where are you?"

"I'm at home." 

"Where's Kaylee?"

"She's here with me, sleeping."

"Is she okay?" 

"Yeah, she's fine. We just ate breakfast."

"Are you gonna bring her in today?" 

"I'm not sure."

"Your not sure. Sergeant, what are you gonna do with her?" Faith~ This is so typical.~

"Do you know what she said to me? She said that she likes me better than Theresa. This kid trusts me, Faith. She needs me." Cruz~ And I need her...~

"Sergeant, obviously she'd like you better than Theresa. That woman hurt her."

"I'm gonna call in sick today and I'm gonna spend the day with her, get to know her better and find out exactly what that bitch did to her."Cruz pretended she didn't hear what Faith said. Cruz~ Why the hell am I telling her this?~ 

"Okay. I do have to admit that she likes you and you're good with her. I didn't think it was possible for you to care about another human being but I think that you may be starting to." 

Silence for a couple of seconds. 

"Do you want me to stop by while you go do some shopping or something?" Faith asked. Faith~ Why the hell am I asking her this?~

Cruz thought about it. ~Well I *am* low in food.~ "Yeah."

"I'll come by at 1:30." 

"Okay." Cruz hung up the phone. 

Faith~ No thank you? I wasn't really expecting one but still...~ 

Cruz lay down on her couch. She curled up in a ball and fell asleep. 

Okay people! Chapter 3 will come out sooner cuz of spring break!!! read and review. 


	3. Chapter 3

Hi people! I'm sorry it took so long. Remember it's kinda A/U.

Okay, here's chapter 3, Hope ya like it. Read and review!

Chapter 3

"Ritza! Ritza!" Someone was shouting Cruz's name.

Cruz opened one eye. "Lettie?"she asked and looked around her living room. After a minute, it hit her that Lettie was dead. "Why am I in the living room?" she asked out loud.

"Ritza!" Now there was soft crying too. 

A light bulb went on in Cruz's head. ~Kaylee! Dios, it takes me forever to wake up.~ She rolled off the couch gracefully without hitting her head. "I"m coming, baby." she called. 

She got herself up and ran into her room where the little girl was crying and shaking uncontrollably. She paused for a minute, staring at the little girl. She ran over to her and pulled her out of the blanket she was tangled up in. Kaylee's crying got louder.

"Shh.. Baby girl, I'm here now, it's okay." Cruz held the little girl in her arms and without even realizing what she was doing, she started rocking her gently. She looked at her clock and saw that it was 8am. Finally, Kaylee calmed down and stopped crying. Cruz picked Kaylee up and carried her into the bathroom. She set her down on the sink and got some tissues. She wiped Kaylee's face and Kaylee looked up at her with a big grin on her face. 

"You passed." Kaylee shrieked.

"Passed what?" Cruz tried hard not to look pissed, but she got interrupted from sleeping. 

"Whenever I used to cry when Theresa was here, she used to hit me and yell at me to stop crying. You didn't do that." Kaylee looked pleased with her discovery.

Cruz~ How can you be mad at that?~ "Ay dios mio! You should be an actress, muneqita, You fooled me! I thought you were really upset." She lifted her off the sink and put her down on the cold floor. 

As soon as Kaylee's feet touched the floor she ran off into the kitchen. "I'm hungry!" 

Cruz groaned silently. ~I guess *I'm* not getting back to sleep anytime soon.~ She followed Kaylee into the kitchen. "You just ate a little while ago." She reminded her. 

"I know." Kaylee sat down at the table. "But I'm still hungry." 

Cruz sighed. "I know you are, but I don't have alotta food here. Faith was gonna come over later and watch you so I could go shopping."

Kaylee made a face.

"You don't like Faith?" Cruz asked, praying that Kaylee would say that she didn't like her.

Kaylee shook her head. "Not really."

Cruz~ Oh thank god.~ "Understandable."

Silence for about 3 minutes. "So who do you want to watch you?" 

"Noone! I wanna go with you 'cause you may not know the foods I like."

"Okay. Let me call Faith." She walked over to where her phone was. "Can you tell me why you don't like her?"

Kaylee shrugged. "Just a feeling. Plus I got the idea that you don't like her." 

"Well..... That's true, but it's a long story." Cruz picked up the phone and since it was the same phone she used to call Faith 5 hours ago, she just hit the redial button.

2 rings. "Hello?" Faith answered.

"Yokas, It's Sergeant Cruz. You don't needta come over later. I'm just gonna take her with me."

Faith was surprised. "Oh, okay. But why? I thought you wanted time alone."

"I'm not gonna know what foods she likes." Cruz tried to avoid the second statement.

"No problem." Faith hung up the phone. 

Cruz stared at the phone. ~Fine be like that.~ "Kaylee." she called.

"I'm right here."

"You need to take a shower. Wait are you too young to take showers?"

"Um... I don't know." 

Cruz tried to think back to when she was 7. ~Was I taking showers or baths then?~ 

"Do you wanna take a bath?"

Kaylee made a face. 

"Okay, stupid question. Let's go. You're taking a bath." Cruz walked over to Kaylee, picked her up and carried her into the bathroom, setting her down on the sink. 

"What am I gonna change into? These clothes are dirty." 

Cruz thought for a minute. "I think we're going shopping first." 

Kaylee groaned.

"Yeah you and me both, chica." Cruz~ Why am I spending all this money on her? I'm not gonna be able to keep her. Or will I? Hmmm....~ Cruz looked at Kaylee. She had on faded jeans and a long sleeve shirt. "You can wear that and a sweatshirt of mine."

Kaylee hopped off the sink and waited for Cruz to walk into her room. Cruz turned and walked into her room. She started rummaging through her draws, finally finding a sweatshirt that won't look too stupid on her. "Here." she handed it to Kaylee.

Kaylee took the sweatshirt and pulled it over her head. "What store are we going to?"

Cruz shrugged. "Where do you wanna go? Kids R Us?" ~Are they cheap?~

"I never went shopping really. Theresa just found me clothes and shoved them at me."

"Oh. So let's go to Kids R Us."

"Okay." 

Cruz looked down at what she had on. She saw black sweat pants and a white T-Shirt. She sighed. "Baby girl, I gotta take a shower. I'll be quick, I promise." 

Kaylee nodded and Cruz headed off towards the bathroom. Kaylee looked around the apartment. Kaylee~ What if she leaves me? Or makes me leave her? Or won't let me stay here? What am I gonna do? I have nowhere to go. Nobody in this world loves me. I'm all alone. Especially after what Theresa did.~ A tear escaped her eye. She quickly brushed it away, even though no one was with her. She walked around the living room looking for something of value to take incase she gets abandoned again. She couldn't risk going into the bedroom and she saw nothing good in the living room. She was careful not to move anything. 

She heard the water turning off in the bathroom. ~That was a quick shower.~ She ran over to the couch and sat down, an innocent look on her face. Cruz opened the door. 

"Hey chica." she called.

"Hi." she whispered back. 

Cruz had a towel around her. "Hang on a sec. I need to find something clean, but then I wanna talk to you." Cruz walked over to her room and closed the door.

Kaylee nodded. Kaylee~ This is it. She's gonna kick me out. I should've gone into the bedroom. She had to have had something good in there.~

Cruz looked around her room, finally finding clean jeans and a black long sleeve shirt. She got dressed and opened the door. She came around the couch and sat next to Kaylee. 

Kaylee turned to Cruz waiting for her to say something. 

"Kaylee, I wanted to talk to you about your situation." 

Kaylee looked at Cruz a little confused. 

"I'm a police sergeant and it's my responsibility to take you to Social Services where they'll find you normal people to live with. They're called foster parents. Are you with me so far?"

Kaylee nodded, trying hard not to cry. "So what did you wanna say?" she whispered.

"I wanna find out if you wanna go to Social Services."

"Where else can I go?" Kaylee~ I hope this works~

"Welllll..... If you want, you can stay here with me, not permanently, but well maybe permanently." Cruz looked at Kaylee trying to decide if she was upset or happy.

"Oh." Kaylee looked down at the floor. Kaylee~ I did it!!!! I'm in!~ Kaylee looked back up at Cruz. "I just didn't think you were the 'mommy' type."

"I'm not. But your over the diapers and the throwing up part, right?"

"I don't know. I mean, I'm over the diapers but I may get sick once in awhile."

Cruz smiled. "Once in awhile I can live with." Cruz looked towards the door. She could've sworn she heard voices outside. Cruz turned back to Kaylee. "I can't explain it, but I feel a connection to you. I think that I was supposed to meet you and help you."

Kaylee stared at Cruz.

"Let's go shopping.." Cruz got up from the couch and Kaylee followed. Cruz got her wallet, her keys and grabbed a random bag and threw her wallet in there. "C'mon chica." ~That was dumb. I just put my keys away.~ She took her keys out and let Kaylee walk in front of her out the door. She closed the door and locked it. "I'm not gonna carry you, okay? Maybe later if you're tired."

Kaylee nodded. They started walking to the stairs and Kaylee slipped her hand in Cruz's. Cruz smiled to herself. ~Maybe I can really help this girl. Who knows what would've happened if I hadn't been standing at that bus stop. I feel a connection with her. I can't explain it. She's like a magnet. I feel like I gotta protect her and I can do that by having her stay here. Can I be a mother? I never used to think so and I'm still not sure I can.~ 

By this time, Cruz and Kaylee were outside in the crisp New York City air. Kaylee was skipping along happily, pulling Cruz with her. 

"What time is it?" Kaylee asked. "Are any good stores open?" 

"It's about 9:04 and no good stores are open, which is why we're going grocery shopping first."

"Oh. Okay." 

3 blocks later, they reached a Pathmark and went inside. "I'm hungry!" Kaylee exclaimed.

Cruz grabbed a shopping wagon. "You wanna sit in it?" 

Kaylee shook her head back and forth. "I wanna feel like a grown up." 

"Let's start with chips. You eat Cheese-Doodles or Popcorn or pretzels?"

"I like all of those, but I haven't eaten them in a long time."

"Pick two out of them." 

Kaylee chose pretzels and cheese-doodles. She placed them in the seat part of the wagon. 

"What do you drink? Milk?" 

"I don't like milk."

Cruz raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "So what do you drink?"

"Tap water." 

Cruz made a face. "You like that stuff?"

"No."

"Do you want normal water, like Poland Spring?"

"Okay." 

They continued shopping like that, with Cruz asking questions about what Kaylee ate and Kaylee choosing stuff.. It took them about an hour and Cruz wound up spending about $55. 

Cruz stood on the checkout line wondering how they were gonna get all this crap home. "Excuse me, you deliver right?"

The cashier nodded. "It's $3 extra though."

Cruz sighed. "Okay I'll do it." 

The cashier handed her a clipboard. "Fill it out and then put how many bags you have."

Cruz nodded. "Kaylee, can you count how many bags there are?"

Kaylee nodded. She started counting as the cashier put them in the cart. "6." she said when the cashier was done. 

Cruz wrote the number down on the form and handed the clipboard back to the cashier. "How long is it gonna be?"

"Whenever the delivery guy comes back."

Cruz~ Duh, what a pendejo~ She turned to Kaylee. "Let's go." 

Cruz and Kaylee walked out of the store and walked the 3 blocks home. "We can't go clothing shopping til the food gets here, so what you wanna do?"

Kaylee shrugged. "I dunno." She looked around the living room. "You have a lotta books."

Cruz nodded. "You wanna read?" 

Kaylee nodded her head excitedly. 

"Go pick one out. Nothing too scarey," she warned.

Kaylee got up and began looking through the books. She found one that seemed a little interesting and brought it over to the couch where Cruz was. She handed Cruz the book and sat down on the couch leaning against Cruz. Cruz looked at the book and saw it was 'The Wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum. Cruz~ What the hell is that still doing here? It used to be my favorite book.~ "Okay. Have you ever read it?"

"No." Kaylee looked down. 

"Hey, I'm sorry." Cruz reached for Kaylee's face and held it up high, without hurting her. "Let' read it okay?"

"Kay." Cruz pulled Kaylee into her lap and began to read 'The Wizard of Oz.' 

About 45 minutes later, the buzzer rang. Kaylee moved over on the couch and Cruz got up. She pressed the 'Enter' button. She thought she heard more than one person stampeding up the stairs. She walked over to the door and opened it so the delivery person wouldn't have to knock. 

Out of nowhere, someone appeared in the doorway and pushed Cruz back into her apartment and didn't let her go. 

"What the fuck are you doing? Get offa me!" she shouted. The man didn't let go of her and a couple more people came into the apartment. They headed straight for Kaylee and grabbed her. "No! Leave her alone!" she shouted. 

"Ritza!" Kaylee cried, struggling to get free. The two people then walked to the door and with Kaylee kicking and crying for Cruz walked out the door. The man holding Cruz walked her into her bedroom and let her go. Cruz was in too much shock too walk after the man. He then walked quickly to the front door and closed it leaving Cruz dazed, confused and just about in tears..........

TBC!!!!!!!!

Okay people, let me know what you think. I already started on chapter 4 so it shouldn't take that long.


	4. Chapter 4

Ok people! I really hope you like this fic and thank you for all the reviews!!!!!!! Much appreciated! Oh, a quick little note, For my other fic, who are you, I have 4 pages of chapter 7 and I'm gonna work on it today. Also, Cruz lives about 4 blocks from the precinct, okay? Okay. ENJOY!!!!

Chapter 4

Cruz looked around her room wondering how she got there. "I thought I was in the living room," she mumbled. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:15. ~The last time I remember it being was about quarter to 11. Where the hell did the time go?~ Cruz was very confused. "How did I get in the bedroom?" she shouted. "Oh my gosh. Kaylee." She started looking around her room, in her closet, under her bed, and in draws. "Shit, shit, shit." she muttered. "I lost a child. How the hell can I lose a child?" 

She ran out into the living room. "Kaylee!", she shouted. She heard nothing. No crying, no screaming nothing. ~The apartment is too quiet. I can't go back to living like this. Wait a f*cking second. Where did she go?~ Cruz started to get a memory of what happened. "Those people." she whispered. "They came in and took her. Sonofabitch." 

Cruz grabbed her phone and called Monroe. ~C'mon, be there.~ she thought desperately. 

"Hello." 

"Monroe, it's Cruz. Listen I was watching a little girl yesterday, well today and now she's gone."

"Gone? Why were you watching a little girl? And why did you call me?"

"I called you because you were the first person I thought of. She was a child abuse case that I walked into. We gotta find her."

"How did you lose her?" Monroe sighed.

"I didn't lose her, Sasha!" Cruz shouted. "People came in and took her." 

Monroe sounded worried now. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Cruz shouted. "We gotta get her back. She trusted me."

"No offense, Sarge, but why would she trust you? Nobody trusts you."

Cruz felt like she got punched in the stomach. "She's a kid. Kids trust easily."

"I'm calling the house and I'll call ya back." Monroe hung up the phone.

"Bitch." Cruz muttered. ~Why would she trust me? And how would she know that I don't like Faith. We were civil to each other, kinda. Dammit. I got played.~ Cruz sat on the couch waiting for Monroe to call back. Finally about 5 minutes later, the phone rang.

"Hello."

"Sarge, it's Monroe. Lieu said for you to come in, he wants to talk to you."

~Great.~ "Fine. I'll be right there." Monroe hung up and Cruz hung up 3 seconds later. Cruz got up and got dressed. She pulled on sweats and a sweatshirt, grabbed her keys and walked out the door. She walked the four blocks to the precinct, silent not caring when people bumped into her. 

She stepped inside and walked to the desk. 

"Over here." Lieu said. She walked with him to a little room and sat down, prepared for what was gonna happen.

"I never thought you would take a child in, Maritza." Lieu started. 

Cruz looked up at him. 

"I'm happy you did. Do you remember what the people that took her looked like?"

"No. They were wearing masks." 

"What was the girls' mother's name?"

"Theresa Castillo." 

"I'm gonna run a backround check on her. Stay here. Oh, you know you have a shift right?"

Cruz nodded. "I wanna look for her."

Lieu nodded, gave her a smile and left. She waited for about 20 minutes. 

Lieu came back into the room. "Okay." he put down a picture on the table. "Is this her?"

Cruz leaned over and looked at the picture. "Yes."

"Sonofabitch." he muttered.

"What?"

"She's a cop." 

"Are you kidding me?" Cruz asked. 

"No. She's from Boston and was a really good cop until her daughter was born. Something changed in her. Her real name is Theresa Vilar."

Cruz looked at Lieu. "Theresa Vilar?" 

"Yeah."

"I heard of her. Something about trying to kill her kid, right?"

"Kinda. She was a cop, so she knew the dangers of the world. When her daughter was born, she didn't want her to have to worry about the dangers. She quit the force and began trying to force people to take care of daughter."

"She ran up to them on the street?"

"No. She would follow them for about a month and then decide if she wanted her daughter to go to them. Then she would make a public scene where someone would take the girl. Theresa would still follow them around and after about a day, get people to take her back. My guess is that your one of those people." 

"But the girl was bruised." Cruz stated.

Lieu nodded. "She did that herself to make people feel bad and want to take her daughter. Also every time she took her daughter back she'd beat her saying it was her fault that no one wants to keep her. In her eyes, no one was good enough to take care of her, but she wouldn't admit that and blamed the girl. She did that to so many people in Boston that she had to move. I have a friend in Boston who told me about her and he figured that she would come to New York because it's a bigger city. She moved to New York about 2 years ago. Then right after, people started to call in and tell me that some lady was hurting her kid. It seemed as soon as they went to the police, she took her back."

"But I am the police. Why would she let me take her?"

"I don't know. Maybe she was getting desperate. Whatever it was, she must've thought you'd do a good job." 

"But the girl knew about the whole thing with Yokas. She said 'I had the feeling you didn't like her.', but we were being civil to each other."

"Theresa probably quizzed the girl on each 'new parent' to try to get them to keep her."

"What a psycho." 

Lieu nodded.

"Why was she never found?"

"She isn't stupid and she remembers how cops work. She'd wait awhile in between like 1 month."

"We gotta help this girl, Lieu." 

"Who Theresa, or the kid?"

"The kid. I... Never mind."

Lieu looked at Cruz. "We will. Now, what's the girls name?"

"Kaylee. K-A-Y-L-E-E." She smiled thinking of that time in the diner when Kaylee spelt her name for her.

"Description."

"You're doing an Amber Alert?"

Lieu nodded.

"About 3 feet tall, maybe 3 and ½ feet, about 40 pounds, brown eyes, long brown hair. She had a sweatshirt on." Cruz paused. ~My sweatshirt~ "..and jeans." Cruz~ I wonder if she understands what her mother was doing to her. I wish I could take her. She'd b safe with me. I'd never let anyone hurt her. I gotta get her back.~

Cruz jumped out of her chair. "I'm gonna go look for her." and without waiting for Lieu to respond, she ran out of the room. She ran out of the precinct bumping into a bunch of people on the way. "Sorry." she called back.

She ran outside and stopped short. ~Now where do I go?~ She looked around at where she was. ~She could be anywhere in the city by now.~ "Crap!" she shouted. She started walking home. ~I can't let that crazy bitch take that little girl away from me. I could be a better mom than that dumb bitch. Well, anyone can but I want to!~ Cruz stopped walking. ~When did I start feeling this way? I haven't even known this girl for a day. Whatever, I need to do this.~ 

Determined she walked quickly to her apartment. She ran up the stairs and flung open her door. She ran into her bedroom, looking for something that had her scent on it. The phone rang. 

She reached for it and cradling it under her ear said, "What?"

"Cruz, it's Bosco." He coughed. "I heard about what happened to that girl from last night. I'm sorry."

"Are you looking for her?"

"Yeah. Everyone is, mostly. We wanna help you. Faith told me how much that girl changed you. I'm happy."

"I can be happy too when that girl is back with me."

"You wanna adopt her?"

Cruz~ Shit.~ "I think so." ~Why did I tell him that? Crap. Now everyone is probably gonna give up looking for her 'cuz they don't think I can take care of a child.~

"I think you'd be good with her."

"Why are you being nice?" Cruz asked.

"I'm not really sure. I gotta get back looking. Are you staying at your place all day?"

"Don't know. I'll have my cell on." She hung up. 

Not a minute later, the phone rang. 

"Dammit, Bosco. I'm trying to do something here." She picked up the phone. "What?" she practically shouted.

"Ritza. It's me." A little voice shook on the other end.

"Kaylee? Where are you baby?" 

"I don't know. I think we're in Queens." Kaylee shut up and Cruz heard someone yelling in the backround.

"How far did you go? I'm gonna give you a key. Start to cry is 20 minutes or less, cough is over 20 minutes to about an hour and say I don't know for over an hour."

Kaylee had a coughing fit. 

Cruz smiled. "That's my girl." she said. 

"How long is that?"

Cruz smacked her head. ~Dammit she's 7. ~

"Where you in a car for a long time?"

"Yes."

"Was it a dark car? Did you see the front of it?"

"Yes. No." Cruz heard someone yell in the backround. 

"Kaylee, sweetie, when you get out of this, do you want to live with me?"

"Yes." Kaylee started crying. "Get me away from her! Help me."

Cruz almost had tears in her eyes. "Live for that. Live so you can live with me. Think of that. Be strong!!!!" 

The phone went dead and there was a dial tone in Cruz's ear.

TBC 

Ok, if you have any questions, email me @ ThirdWatchCruzer@aol.com. I wrote this really quickly and may have missed some details. This won't get continued until next Monday, the 19th. Okay, stay tuned. READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Hi People! Ok. I'm back. I went on a trip to Vegas, and I came back the 19th. Thank you for all the reviews, u guys r the best!!!!!!!!! For the police stuff, this is my way and I know it's probably wrong, so please don't review and tell me that it's wrong. If you have any questions on any places, e-mail me @ ThirdWatchCruzer@aol.com Kay, read and enjoy. Please review!!!!!

Don't Let Me Go Chapter 5

Cruz took the phone away from her ear, half expecting Kaylee to jump out of it. She sighed and hung up the phone.

Cruz's first reaction was to call the precinct but she needed to think about a few things first.

~Okay. I saw Bosco read Theresa her Miranda Rights so she wasn't one of the bastards that took Kaylee. How would Kaylee have my number? The only thing that seems somewhat possible is that Theresa was the one doing the hang ups and she made Kaylee memorize the number. What a frickin lunatic.~

Now that Cruz got herself pissed off again, she decided to call the precinct. She reached over and grabbed the phone. Dialing the precinct she hoped that whoever had Kaylee wouldn't hurt her. 

"5-5 Precinct."

"It's Cruz. I need to talk to Swersky." she barked. She listened and didn't hear the desk guy doing anything. "Now!" she shouted. She heard papers being filed. "Jackass." she muttered into the phone.

"Cruz, what do you want? You hear from that girl?"

"She called me."

"And????"

"She thinks she's in Queens." 

"Maritza, she's 7."

Cruz rolled her eyes. "I know that."

"Dial *69 on your phone. If you get the number, you know what to do. If not....." Swersky trailed off.

"I'm not gonna stay here and do nothing."

"You don't have a choice. She can always call again."

"I'm sure Theresa taught her my cell number." she muttered. 

"What?"

"I think that Theresa kept calling me and hanging up. She must've taught Kaylee my phone number."

"And a 7 year old remembered it?" Swersky was skeptical.

"If she didn't, her mother would beat her."

"I don't know, Maritza. This whole thing is getting a little abnormal. Just let it go if you don't get the number after *69."

"Whatever." Cruz hung up the phone. ~Let it go my ass. I can't let it go. I can't just forget about Kaylee and what that sick bitch might have people do to her.~ All of a sudden Cruz got a horrible thought. ~What if Bosco didn't arrest her? He read her her Miranda Rights, but that don't mean she got arrested. What if she showed him she was a cop?~ "Shit." 

Cruz picked up the phone and dialed Bosco's cell phone looking at the clock. It was quarter to 12.

"Yeah." he answered gruffly.

"Did you arrest that woman with the child abuse case?" Cruz asked.

"Cruz? What? Huh?"

"Did you arrest that woman from the child abuse case that me and Yokas went to the hospital with last night?" Cruz enunciated every word.

"I read her her rights."

"Yeah, I know that Bosco. I was there for that part."

"I just got up Cruz. Gimme a frickin minute." Bosco snapped. He was quiet for awhile.

"Bosco!" Cruz shouted. "This is important."

"Yeah, I think I took her in."

"You think?" Cruz echoed. "You know what case I'm talkin about right?"

"Ya, I think so. You made me watch the girl while you went to talk to Faith, right?"

"Yeah." 

"Okay then. She was a cop, you know that?"

"Yeah I knew that. Swersky told me." ~C'mon, Bosco, don't be a jackass.~

"She showed me her badge and said it was a misunderstanding. I took her to the precinct and proved that she was a cop. Then I let her go."

Those were the words Cruz did *not* wanna hear. "You let her go." she whispered, not believing what she was hearing. 

"Yeah, why? That's bad?"

"Only if you think kidnaping your own child is bad." Cruz said sarcastically. 

Bosco was completely awake now. "What the f*ck are you talking about?"

"I don't have time to tell you the whole thing. That bitch cop has been abusing the girl for years. She's been beating her and making people take her in. Then she snatches her back and beats her again because she thinks that it's the girl's thought nobody wants her."

"How do you know this?"

"Swersky told me. Kaylee called me and told me she thinks she's in Queens. Not that that helps since she's only 7." Cruz added bitterly. 

Bosco couldn't believe this was happening. ~How could I be so stupid?~ "Are you at home?"

"Yeah."

"What the hell are you doing there? You should be out looking for her."

"We have nothing to go on. You don't know how much I wanna be out there." 

"We'll get her Cruz, I promise." 

"She's so helpless Bosco. We gotta get her and that ex cop. I gotta go."

"What are you gonna do?"

"*69 the call. It may be something."

"I'm gonna go into the precinct. I'll call Faith and tell her to come in too."

"I'll go in in a little while." 

Cruz hung up. Picking up the phone again she dialed *69. 

"The number of your last incoming call was 7184532658."

Cruz copied down the number and called the precinct. 

"5-5 precinct."

"I got a number. 7184532658." Cruz read the number off the paper.

"Get your ass in here, now." 

Cruz hung up the phone and went to take a shower. She couldn't stop blaming herself for not fighting those people in the masks. She knew that one of them was Theresa. ~I can't believe this. How could I be so stupid?~ Sighing she turned on the water and went into her room to find something to wear. She decided on normal jeans and a black long sleeve shirt. She took the clothes into the bathroom and undressed. Stepping into the shower she tried to relax. 

20 minutes later she stepped out of the shower. She opened the bathroom door. She was on her way to the kitchen to get a drink of water when the blinking red light of the answering machine caught her eye. The number 3 was blinking. She hit the button.

"You have 3 new messages." the machine said.

"Yeah, no shit sherlock." Cruz muttered. 

"First message, twelve o' 3 pm."

"Ritza it's me." Kaylee whispered. "I'm gonna get outta here..." the phone went dead.

"Second message. 12 o' 5 pm."

"I'm gonna get outta here when she leaves for a minute." the phone died again.

"Third message, 12 o' 9 pm."

"She has to go out to get something. When she does, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna walk around til I find a police place and I'm gonna go in and tell them to call you. She left, I gotta go." She hung up the phone.

"Dammit." Cruz muttered. Reaching over, she picked up the phone and dialed the precinct.

"5-5 Precinct."

"Put Swersky on now." 

"Cruz, where the hell are you?"

"I'm here, Kaylee left 3 messages on my machine when I was taking a shower. She said that she was gonna escape when the evil bitch left for a second. She's gonna wander around until she finds a precinct and she's gonna go in and tell them to call me." Cruz was running around the apartment trying to get ready.

"Maritza." Swersky said gently. "Don't get your hopes up."

"She *will* get away. She's smart enough to know she should go to a precinct."

"Yes." Swersky admitted. "But Theresa can come back, see she's missing and go look for her."

"Then we have to find out where she is before Theresa gets her." Cruz said gritted teeth. "Did you get a trace on that number?"

"Yes. It came from somewhere on Northern Blvd."

"Northern goes from Astoria to the Island!" Cruz exclaimed.

"I know. I'll do a check on all precincts on Northern." 

"Do you know any that are Northern without doing the check?"

"I know the 111th is on Northern. That's Bayside."

"Then I'm going to Bayside." Cruz hung up.

She grabbed her cell phone, a sweatshirt and her keys and ran out the door, locking it behind her. She turned on her cell phone on the way to her car which was parked around the corner. She got in and got out of the space, heading towards the Queens Manhattan Midtown Tunnel.

~Why do they bother calling it the Queens Manhattan Midtown Tunnel? Noone calls it that. Everyone just calls it the Midtown Tunnel. Yes, Maritza, that's what you should be focusing on.~ 

While she was on the 495, her cell phone rang. She knew it was illegal to answer to talk on the phone while driving but it could be important. 

"Hello."

"Cruz, it's Swersky. I got a call from the 111. A little girl was asking for a Maritza Cruz."

Cruz~ Oh thank god!~ "I'm on my way. I'm on the 495."

"Call me when you get there."

Cruz hung up, driving faster. Finally she got to the exit for the Clearview Expressway. She turned onto the Clearview and went until the exit for Northern Blvd. She got off and went on Northern until she got to 209th street. She checked her watch. It was 12:45. She stopped her car and got out running into the precinct.

"I'm Maritza Cruz, I'm Maritza Cruz." She ran into the precinct screaming.

"Swersky called you?" An officer asked.

"Yes. Where's the little girl?" 

"She's over here. Come with me. Her arm is injured, it may be broken." Cruz followed the officer back into an interrogation room. 

"Ritza!" Kaylee screamed.

"Kaylee." Cruz breathed a huge sigh of relief. Kaylee ran into Cruz's arms, crying, not caring if her hurt arm got injured..

Cruz picked her up carefully and carried her out of the precinct. They walked to her car and Cruz put Kaylee in the back seat. Cruz picked up her cell phone, dialing the precinct.

"5-5 precinct."

"I got her." Cruz said.

"Cruz? You got her?"

"Yeah. Her arm's broken or sprained."

"Bring her in. Now. Then you can go to the hospital with her."

Cruz hung up, looking in her mirror at the little girl. 

"She's never gonna hurt you again. I promise." 

"I trust you Ritza."

"How did you find the precinct?"

"I got out of wherever we were and I walked around the corner. There was an officer there and I asked him where the closest police place was. He said he'd take me there himself." 

"Thank god." Cruz whispered. ~What would've happened if that officer hadn't been there?~ "We're gonna go to my police place and then the hospital for your arm, ok?"

Cruz saw Kaylee nod. 

"Just relax. We have a little bit of a ride."

Kaylee leaned back, calm and Cruz was also calm, knowing that Kaylee was where she belonged. Kaylee was with her, and she was never gonna let her go. Cruz didn't wanna bring Kaylee to the precinct. She thought that her arm was more important. Cruz held her cell phone, dialing with one finger. 

"5-5 Precinct."

"Swersky, it's Cruz. I think that it's more important Kaylee's arm gets looked at, so I'm bringing her to the ER."

"Fine. You're actually asking?"

"No, I'm telling you so you won't flip out. I wasn't asking your permission."

"Course not."

Cruz hung up and looked at Kaylee. She was asleep. Cruz couldn't believe what happened in the last 10 minutes. 

30 minutes later, she pulled into Mercy Hospital. Not wanting to wake Kaylee, she reached in and carried her into the ER. 

"Sergeant."

"She has a broken arm, I think."

"Okay, we have an accident coming in though so it may be awhile." 

Cruz nodded. She carried Kaylee to the waiting area.

"Your daughter's adorable." A woman that was sitting next to Cruz commented.

"She's not my.." Cruz started. "Thank you."

"How old is she?"

"7"

"What happened to her?"

"She was playing and she fell and broke her arm."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

Cruz nodded. "Thank you." She leaned over Kaylee's face and gave her a kiss on her forehead. Kaylee was still. Something didn't feel right. A 7 year old who went through what Kaylee went through wouldn't go to sleep that quickly. 

"Kaylee." Cruz whispered. 

Kaylee didn't move. 

"Kaylee!" Cruz shouted.

Still nothing.

Cruz jumped up, still holding Kaylee. "This girl's unconscious!" She shouted. 

A doctor hurried over with a nurse. "Lie her down on the floor. Let me get a gurney!" he shouted.

They moved Kaylee onto the gurney, not moving her head, Cruz holding her hand. 

Cruz~Let her be okay.~ 

"Take her to Trauma 1." They hurried off, Cruz running besides them, holding Kaylee's hand...

TBC!!!!!!!!!!! 

Okay people, REVIEW!!!!!!!! Thank you for reading! You're the best!!!!!!! 


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you for all the reviews!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm soo happy you like it! All the medical stuff, I got from watching ER, so if it's wrong, I'm sorry!! Also, with the IV thing, I just did it to suit the story. All the people you don't know, I own. Okay, anywayz, here's chapter 6, Review, please & thank u!

Memba, it's kinda A/U

Don't Let Me Go

Chapter 6

"Ma'am I need you to go outside," the doctor said.

A nurse escorted Cruz outside the room.

Cruz was unable to say anything and waited for 5 minutes outside, in shock.

Getting her voice back Cruz yelled, "Tell me what happened to her. Why isn't she awake? Dammit!" Cruz slammed her hand on the door separating her and Kaylee. Crap, that hurt. This is bullshit.

Cruz opened the door.

"Ma'am, please wait outside." the doctor said impatiently.

"I'm a police sergeant with the 5-5 and who the hell are you?"

"Dr. Nara. You need the girl for questioning?" Dr. Nara was rushing around Kaylee, barking orders at nurses.

Cruz How bout that? We actually do. "Yeah. Oh, she has a broken arm."

"I see that. We're gonna put the IV's and take her blood from the other arm. She's unconscious now. It looks like a concussion. We can't tell how serious, so we don't know for sure, but she may have amnesia." The doctor slowed down now that Kaylee was all set up.

"What's it from?"

"Most likely abuse. Maybe a table or side of a door. It may have even been something as small as a pot or a pan"

"Son of a bitch." Cruz muttered. "Is she in a coma?"

"Not a full coma, it's just like she's sleeping. She should wake up soon, but like I said there's a good chance of amnesia, like there is with any concussion." Dr. Nara paused. "She's not intibated and she breathing well on her own. The only thing I'm concerned with is her pulse and b/p are too high."

Cruz looked at a machine trying to see the b/p and pulse. She couldn't read it. "What are they?"

"Her pulse is 144 and her b/p is 130/ 93."

"144? That's really high isn't it?" Cruz had no idea about any medical crap.

"Not for a child, there heart rates are higher than ours. Kids normal pulses are around 100 or 110."

"Oh." Cruz looked at all the machines around Kaylee. True, most of them weren't connected to her. Just the vitals machine and the heart monitor. She didn't know what the rest of them were there for and didn't feel like making an ass out of herself to find out. She saw 2 IV bags and looked at Kaylee's body. She saw 3 little tubes going in and out of her good arm.

"How come there's all those tubes there?" Cruz pointed at Kaylee's arm.

"These 2 are for the IV's," Dr. Nara showed her. "This one over here can come out now, it was just to get blood for a blood test to make sure she's hydrated and to see if she has any drugs in her system." He leaned over Kaylee and took the one tube out of her arm. Her arm looked the same.

Cruz stood over the little girl staring at her, wishing she could do something to make her better. She felt her eyes filling up. "I have something in my eye," she muttered and brought her finger up to brush away the tear. "Can she hear me?"

Dr. Nara nodded. "I think she can. I have other patients but I'll be back to check on her."

Cruz nodded. The doctor left, so did most of the nurses. There was only one in the room with her. Cruz leaned over Kaylee and whispered into Kaylee's ear, "You're gonna be fine. I'm right here with you, muneqita. I won't leave, I promise."

Cruz looked over at the nurse who was checking supplies. The nurse turned.

"I'm so sorry about her. Are you really a cop?"

Cruz nodded.

"Oh. I thought she was your daughter."

"She's a child abuse case that ran into me last night. I took care of her last night and someone took her from me last night. I just got her back about 20 minutes ago. I was taking her back to my precinct for questioning, but I thought her broken arm was more important, so I took her here. She fell asleep in the car and I thought that was kinda weird, but I didn't do anything until we came into the hospital and she wouldn't wake up." Cruz was going over all her memories from the past 12 hours in her brain and wondering why she just explained herself to a nurse.

The nurse looked at her, sympathetically. "I'm so sorry. She should be fine though. Dr. Nara's a great doctor."

Cruz felt tear welling up in her eyes. "How could I be so stupid?"she whispered to herself. "A normal girl who just went through that wouldn't be asleep." She leaned next to Kaylee. "C'mon baby. Wake up. Please?" she begged.

She sat herself down on the floor, knee to up to her chest. She put her head down and sobbed into her arms, silently.

Cruz must've fallen asleep because Dr. Nara was tapping her on the shoulder and she was opening her eyes, dazed. "How long has it been since you left?" she muttered.

"An hour." He looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." she muttered. "How's Kaylee?"

"That's why I was going to wake you. She got moved upstairs to PEDS."

Cruz stood up faster than the speed of light. "Whoa." She felt dizzy and held her head.

"Sergeant." He asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. I need to see her. Now!"

"Okay, I figured as much. " Dr. Nara turned to the nurse that was in the room before Cruz fell asleep. "Amy, can you take her up to the PEDS?"

"Of course." Amy turned to Cruz. "Follow me please."

Cruz walked three steps behind Amy out of the trauma room and into the elevator.

Cruz cleared her throat. "Do you know how long its been since she got moved?"

"15 minutes."

"Oh." Cruz nodded.

Finally the elevator stopped on the 5th floor. They got out.

"I'm not sure what room she's in. Hang on." Amy went to the nurses station.

"Hi. I'm looking for the little girl that was just brought up from the E.R. What room is she in?"

"Um... 521."

"Thank you." Amy walked back over to Cruz. "She's in 521."

Cruz nodded and walked away from Amy. She wandered down the hall, glancing at both sides of the hall at the numbers, confused. The numbers kept going up. 511,512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518 519, 520. The numbers stopped and there was what looked like a custodial room. Where the hell is 521? Is there a friggin vortex separating that room from me? Cruz turned the corner and there was 521. Of course.

The door was closed. Cruz opened the door slightly and quietly. She peered in and gave a small sigh of relief. It was Kaylee, and she didn't have the IV attached to her.

She opened the door more and stepped inside, closing the door quietly behind her. She looked over to see if Kaylee had a roommate. Of course she did. Cruz slid the curtain separating them shut for some privacy. In case I cry. she reasoned with herself. She pulled up a chair and put it right next to the little girl's bed the way her head was turned so Cruz was the first thing she'd see when she woke up and hopefully Kaylee'd be less afraid and know she was safe.

Cruz sat down in the chair and made herself comfortable. She sat staring at Kaylee, trying to give her a telepathethic message to wake up.

She fell asleep again and when she opened her eyes, she saw the eyes of a scared little girl looking at her.

"Kaylee." she whispered.

Kaylee stared blankly back at her. She tried to sit up in bed, but got dizzy and felt pain in her arm and fell back down.

"Are you okay?" Cruz asked concerned.

Kaylee nodded slightly. "Who are you?" she whispered. Kaylee Who am I? Where am I? This is scary! I don't like feeling like this.

Cruz opened her mouth to say something. The amnesia. Dammit Cruz sat up straight and pulled the chair closer to the bed.

"Are you my mommy?"

Cruz I can't lie to this little girl. I can lie to anyone else but not her. I wanna say yes so badly but I can't. "No, sweetie."

"Oh. Who are you?"

"I'm Ritza."

Kaylee made a funny face. "That's a funny name."

Cruz smiled. "Only you call me that. My real name is Maritza."

"Do you know my name?" Kaylee asked innocently.

"Yes. Your name is Kaylee Castillo."

"Do you know where my mommy is? And where we are?"

"We're in a hospital. Your mommy um.." Cruz paused not sure how to say this. ".. your mommy hurt you a lot and she's on her way to jail. I'm a cop."

Kaylee showed a little bit of recognition on her face.

"Do you remember any of this?"

Kaylee nodded and a tear fell out of her eye. "I remember my head slamming into a door and me crying, but it happened again. Someone was yelling in the background, I think." Kaylee almost jumped outta bed, but Cruz gently pushed her back onto her pillow . "Was that lady who hurt me my mommy?"

Cruz swallowed. "I think so."

Kaylee started crying full force. "Why would she hurt me? Was I that bad?"

Cruz almost had tears coming out of her eyes too, but she held them back. She got up from the chair and sat down on Kaylee's bed. "Sweetie, you weren't bad at all. You didn't do anything wrong. EVER!"

Kaylee was crying so badly she couldn't catch her breath.

Cruz pulled her into a hug, watching her arm, and the girl went without protesting. Kaylee kept crying, getting what Cruz was wearing soaked with tears. Cruz pulled the little girl onto her lap and stroked her hair, the little girl crying into her shoulder.

Finally, after about 15 minutes of staying like that, Kaylee pushed Cruz back.

"Why me?" she whispered.

"I don't know. I wish I had an answer more than anything, but I don't."

Kaylee began to cry silently now. "How old am I?" she asked Cruz.

"8."

"Oh." Kaylee paused, the tears stopping. "Am I in school?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Can I read?"

"I think so, you read a menu before when we were in a diner, or at least I think you did."

"Have I ever been to school?"

"I don't know, but it's never too late to start."

Kaylee wrinkled her nose. "But I'll be 8, and with little kids!" she exclaimed.

Cruz couldn't help but smile.

Kaylee looked down and noticed her arm. "What happened?"

"I think it was your mother."

"You mean the lady that hurt me?"

Cruz nodded.

"That's not a mother. A mother isn't someone that hurts you. A mother is someone that cares about you, and loves you and does everything to make sure you don't get hurt." Kaylee explained.

Cruz nodded.

"Is it gonna be okay?" Kaylee asked referring to her arm.

"Yeah. You just haveta wear that for awhile. I'll sign it for you. Do you want that?"

Kaylee nodded.

"I'm gonna go get one of those special pens okay? I'll be right back."

Kaylee nodded and got herself under the covers again, careful of her arm.

Cruz left the room.

Kaylee looked around her room, scared at being alone.

Cruz walked down the hallway from getting the pen thinking. I should really ask her if she wants to live with me. No Ritza, you can't do that. That's putting yourself out there, and just saying 'come hurt me now.' You gotta drop hints without actually saying anything. Ask her what she wants me to write. Satisfied, she walked back into Kaylee's room.

Cruz shut the door quietly and looked at Kaylee. She was lying in her bed, looking all alone in the world. She is all alone in the world. Maybe I'm all she has. I don't think I've ever been someone's everything before.

Kaylee looked at Cruz.

"Got the pen." Cruz said.

"Kay." Kaylee moved her arm and Cruz walked over to her bed, sat down and looked at Kaylee.

"What do you want me to write?" she asked.

Kaylee shrugged. "Be creative."

Cruz thought. Dammit. She didn't go for it. Arite. Let's see, how about Kaylee, I hope you feel better soon, I'll be here with ya all the way? Yeah, that's good. Now how should I sign it? Love or from Ritza?

While Cruz was thinking, Kaylee, was looking at her, wondering what was taking so long.

Finally Cruz got the pen in a writing position and began to write. Kaylee tried to lean over and see what she was writing.

"Hey! No peeking."

"Okay." Kaylee lay back against her pillow waiting for Cruz to finish.

It seemed to take forever to Kaylee, but really, it was only a minute or two.

Cruz cleared her throat. "Kaylee, Chica, you betta get better soon, 'cause I hate seeing you in a cast! I'll be here with ya all the way! Love, Ritza."

Kaylee looked at Cruz.

Cruz Oh god, please like it, please, please, please!

"You're really gonna stay with me?" Kaylee asked.

"Of course."

Kaylee was really happy. "I don't know what it is, but since I opened my eyes, I feel safe and I feel connected to you." Kaylee paused. "That may sound kinda dumb..."

Cruz stared at Kaylee. "You don't remember, but I said the same thing to you not that long ago."

"Really?" Kaylee sounded surprised.

"What? Didn't think I was the caring type?"

"No. I didn't think you were the mommy type."

Cruz Did she just say mommy type? Does that mean...?"

"Kaylee, we had this talk awhile ago. Do you wanna live with me?" Cruz was practically holding her breath.

"Yeah." Kaylee looked down, embarrassed .Kaylee couldn't tell if she was mad or pissed off. Kaylee Like she's gonna wanna take care of me. Face it, your mother beat you, there must've been a reason, and I'm sure Ritza sees that reason too.

"I'll be right back." Cruz jumped off of the bed and ran out the door.

Nice going Kaylee, you scared her. Kaylee was yelling at herself in her head.

Cruz was running down the hall looking for a doctor. Where the hell are the frickin doctors? She rounded a corner and almost ran right into a man.

The man helped her steady herself.

"Are you a doctor?" Cruz asked.

The man shook his head.

Cruz What good are you? Get outta my way! and she was off again.

She decided to go down to the ER and talk to Dr. Nara. She went to the front desk and asked where he was.

"Curtain 2." The desk clerk responded a little confused.

Cruz turned around and walked away from the desk, trying to figure out where that was.

The desk clerk probably sensed her confusion and yelled out to her, "Go to the left and then straight."

At least I didn't haveta ask. Cruz followed the directions and found Dr. Nara talking to a patient.

She marched right up to him and pulled his arm. "I need to talk to you, now." she said.

"I'm with a patient."

"You think I can't see you? It's about that little girl."

Dr. Nara sighed. "I'll be one minute." he assured the patient and followed Cruz.

"What?" he snapped.

"How long is it gonna be before she can come home?"

"She'll probably have to stay one night for observation." He looked at Cruz suspiciously. "Why?"

But Cruz was already out of the room. She ran through the entire ER and instead of waiting for the elevator she ran up about 6 flights of stairs. Exhausted, she stopped for a minute and then she walked back to Kaylee's room. She closed the door and looked around the room. Something's missing here. Shit! Kaylee! Where the fck is she?

Cruz ran out of the room and down the hall. How could a 7 year old get out without anyone noticing?

She got to the nurses station. "Did you see a little girl walk out of here?"

The nurse nodded. "About 5 minutes ago. She was crying. I asked if she was a patient and she said no."

"And you believe a 7 year old?"

"She didn't have a bracelet on."

"Damnit." Cruz turned around. She took out her cell phone and called the precinct.

"5-5 precinct."

"She's gone."

"What? Cruz? You lost her?" Swersky wasn't happy.

"She walked outta the hospital crying."

Swersky sighed. "Tell them to lock the hospital down. Cruz, we need this girl."

"I'm aware of that." I need her too.

Cruz turned back to the nurse. "We need to lock the hospital down."

TBC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, ppl! Another cliff hanger, this shouldn't take long tho cuz summers here! Yay! No school! REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey, people, it's me. Okay, to clarify Kaylee's age, she's 7 ½.. I really appreciate the reviews, so keep 'em comin! If you wanna IM me or email me, to say hi or ask me a question, do it! ThirdWatchCruzeraol.com My AIM name is ThirdWatchCruzer, too. I'm almost always on.. If anything is unrealistic, that's okay cuz it's fanFICTION. Here's the story... ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just so you don't think your going crazy, I'm backing up and reminding you what happened at the end of last chapter.

Don't Let Me Go

Chapter 7

Cruz took out her cell phone and called the precinct.

"5-5 precinct."

"She's gone."

"What? Cruz? You lost her?" Swersky wasn't happy.

"She walked outta the hospital crying."

Swersky sighed. "Tell them to lock the hospital down. Cruz, we need this girl."

"I'm aware of that." I need her too.

Cruz turned back to the nurse. "We need to lock the hospital down."

The nurse stared at her. "The whole hospital?"

Cruz looked at her. "No, we just need to lock down certain parts of it. YES the whole hospital!" she shouted.

The nurse continued staring at her. "For one little girl?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Cruz practically shouted at her. "This little girl is very important to me. I mean us. The precinct. Dammit." She slammed her hand down on the counter. "Call your boss up and tell him to shut down every exit. NOW!"

"Yes ma'am." The nurse picked up the phone and dialed the chief of staff. She waited until he picked up.

"What?"

"Sir, it's Nurse Fox on PEDS. I have a police sergeant with me and she needs to lock down the hospital."

"So? Why'd you call me? Call the head of security."

"I need your authorization."

"If an officer tells you to do something, do it!" he shouted at her.

"Yes, sir." She hung up and picked the phone right back up again.

Cruz made a motion with her arms behind the nurse saying 'What the fuck are you doing?' "Um. Hello?" she shouted.

"I'm calling the head of security."

"That's just wonderful. Now she's probably gone and wandering around an alley somewhere."

The nurse brought her finger to her lips telling Cruz to shut up.

Cruz Well excuse me, lil bitch.

"Security."

"We need to lock the hospital down." Nurse Fox said.

"Why?"

"There's a little girl wandering around. I have the order from a sergeant with the 5-5."

"Fine." the voice replied and hung up.

Nurse Fox hung up.

Cruz looked at her. "Well?"

"He's taking care of it."

"Just like that?"

Fox nodded.

Cruz thought. "Who did you speak to?"

Fox shrugged. "I have no idea. It was a guy. He answered the phone 'security'."

Cruz sighed. "Keep looking for her." How the hell did you get through nursing school?

"Yes ma'am." Fox stayed still for a minute.

"What?"

"Shouldn't it come on the PA system?"

"No. What should come on the PA system is someone calling her name." Cruz went behind the desk and grabbed the microphone. "Kaylee Castillo, I repeat Kaylee Castillo, go to a place with a desk. When you get there, tell them your name. Watch out for your arm. Kaylee Castillo, go to anywhere you can find with a desk." Cruz's voice trailed off since Fox grab the microphone back.

"The hospital's being locked down. There's nothing else you can do."

Cruz stomped away and went to wait for an elevator. She figured there'd be a better shot of finding her on the bottom floor.

Meanwhile, Kaylee was walking around the hospital, trying to figure some things out. What do I want? I wanna live with Ritza. What's the problem with that? She don't wanna live with a whiny kid. There must've been a reason that mean lady everyone says is my mommy beat me. Think, Kaylee think.

"Kaylee Castillo, I repeat Kaylee Castillo, go to a place with a desk. When you get there, tell them your name. Watch out for your arm. Kaylee Castillo, go to anywhere you can find with a desk."

Kaylee looked up. What did Ritza say my last name was? Castillo! Was that Ritza? It sounds like her. She started looking for a desk. All she saw was doors that were closed. She saw one that had a person in front of it. She walked over to it.

"Excuse me, I need a desk."

The guard looked down at her. "Why?"

"'Cause I was told to find a desk and tell them my name."

"What's your name?"

"Kaylee Castillo."

"You're the little girl everyone's looking for?" The guard looked and saw she had something wrong with her arm. He figured that must've been what the person that did the message was talking about.

"I guess so." Kaylee looked unsure. How many people are looking for me?

"Come with me." He held out his hand.

Kaylee took it.

They started walking and with his other hand, the guard radioed in.

"I have the girl. Over."

"What girl? Over."

"Kaylee Castillo. Over."

"Bring her up to PEDS. I'll tell the sergeant. Over."

"On our way. Over."

Kaylee was staring at the man. "Why do you keep saying 'over'?"

"So my boss knows that I'm finished talking."

"Where are we going?"

"To the elevators. We're going up to the 5th floor."

"What floor are we on now?"

"2nd."

"Oh." Kaylee let herself be led to the elevators. When they got there, the guard pushed 5. They were on their way.

"You Sergeant Cruz? with the 5-5?"

Cruz nodded.

"Okay, I was sent here to tell you that we found Kaylee. A guard is bringing her up to PEDS now."

"Thank you."

The young man started to walk away, but Cruz grabbed his wrist.

"Who told you to tell me?"

"Mr. Garcia. He told me that he got a walkie-talkie message from a guard that said he had her."

"Okay. Oh, PEDS is the 5th floor?"

"Yes ma'am."

She nodded and let him go.

By now, she was on the first floor in the ER. She had to get back to the elevators which she just walked away from and go back to the 5th floor. As soon as I get home, who knows when that'll be, I'm going straight to sleep. Unless I have Kaylee. She walked back to the elevators and pressed the up button. In a couple of minutes, one finally came down.

Bout frickin time. She got in and pressed 5. The elevator stopped on every floor so by the time she got to the 5th floor, it was 5 minutes later.

Trying to get out of the elevator was a whole separate mission. Since she was the first one on, she was all the way in the back and had to shove her way out.

"Excuse me. Move. Get outta my way." She said and finally she was out.

She headed in the direction of the desk and there she was.

Kaylee was being talked to by someone, she didn't know who and she really didn't care. All of a sudden, she felt something. She couldn't explain what it was. She turned around and saw Ritza.

"Ritza!" she cried and ran towards her.

Ritza smiled and bent down so she could catch her and bring her up in a hug.

While she was running, Kaylee had a quick thought. This doesn't look like someone who doesn't want me to live with her. Maybe there's a chance after all.

"Ay mi chicita." Ritza picked her up and gave her a huge hug. "Where did you go?"

Kaylee wrapped her good arm around Ritza's neck and had the other one just floating around.

Kaylee wasn't sure what to say as an answer that didn't make her look crazy.

"I wanted to go for a walk." she said simply.

"Next time, tell me!" Ritza scolded gently.

Kaylee nodded.

Cruz wanted to yell at her more, but she looked down at her innocent face and couldn't bring herself to do it. All she wanted to do was hold Kaylee and never let her go again.

Their happy reunion was interrupted by Cruz's cell phone. Cruz shifted Kaylee from one hip to another to answer her phone.

"Cruz."

"You find her yet?"

Cruz Shit, I was supposed to call him. "Yeah about 5 minutes ago."

Cruz could hear Swersky breathing a huge sigh of relief.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah." She put the phone down for a minute and whispered into Kaylee's ear, "How's your arm?"

"It's okay. A little sore."

"Yeah she's fine. Her arm hurts a little bit though."

"Fine."

"Um, Lieu, what are we gonna do with her?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"Are we gonna put her in the system?"

"We have no choice, unless you wanna take her." Swersky said sarcastically.

Cruz didn't say anything.

"Cruz? Do you wanna take her?"

"Yeah."

"Did you talk to her about it?"

"No."

Swersky sighed. That was so like Cruz. "I think that'd be a good thing to do first."

"Yeah. I'll ask her."

"Call me later."

"Why?"

"To tell me if she's gonna stay with you or if we have to call ACS."

"Oh, right, okay." Cruz didn't sound completely with him.

"Bye, Maritza."

"Bye, Lieu." She hung up.

Swersky Why would that little girl wanna live with Cruz? unless she's that different.

Cruz struggled to put her phone back in her pants pocket and hold Kaylee at the same time. After awhile she got it in.

"Kaylee, I need to talk to you about something very important."

Kaylee Oh no. This is it.

"Let's go back to your room and talk, okay?"

Kaylee nodded.

Cruz walked back to Kaylee's room, Cruz still carrying her.

After what seemed like forever to both of them, they got to room 521.

Cruz walked over to the bed and placed Kaylee on it gently and then went and closed the door.

Tucking Kaylee in safely under the blankets, she sat down on the bed.

"So." She didn't know what to say.

"So." Kaylee answered.

"This has been one helluva day, huh?"

Kaylee nodded. "What time is it?"

Cruz checked her watch. "4:56."

"Oh."

"Kaylee, I wanna ask you a very important question. I don't want you to lie to me, okay?"

Kaylee nodded.

"When you get out of the hospital, which is in a day, we need to figure out where you're gonna live." Cruz paused to make sure Kaylee was still with her. "My boss says that you have to go into the foster care system."

Kaylee felt tears welling up.

"But I don't want you to go there." Cruz paused. "I want you to live with me."

Kaylee was about to start crying, but then she heard what Cruz said. "I want you to live with me."

"Do you mean that?" Kaylee asked.

"Of course." Cruz replied. "Do you wanna live with me?"

"YES!" Kaylee shouted.

Cruz Better words have never been spoken. "Okay. Now, normally, we would haveta go through this whole system thing, but since I'm a police officer, I'm cleared automatically and you can be discharged into my care tomorrow."

Kaylee felt like there was a ferris wheel inside her head. "Do I haveta go to school?"

"Yes."

"Whose gonna sign stuff for me? Like when we have a field trip?"

"I will."

"But your not my real mommy."

"I know that, but I'm gonna be your guardian until I can adopt you. It'll take a long time, but until then, I'm gonna be your temporary guardian."

"What does adopt mean?"

"Your gonna become my child."

"What does temporary guardian mean?"

"That I have custody of you and if anyone ever comes and tries to take you away, that's not good and they'll go to jail for a very long time."

Kaylee was quiet for a minute and finally said, "Can I call you Mommy?"

Cruz was about to cry. "Of course you can, if you wanna."

"Okay, mommy."

Okay, I hope you liked it! I'm gonna do an epilogue, and then I'd like to do a sequel. If you want me to do a sequel, write it in your review! Also, I'm not really sure if all police officers are automatically cleared, but it made sense to me. I mean, they have backround checks and everythin. So if it turns out there not automatically cleared, please don't write that in a review. I also figured it'd be shorter and I won't have to go through the whole boring legal process which I really know nothing about. Okay, newayz... I really hope you liked it. Please review! And remember if you want me to do a sequel, TELL ME!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey ppl! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! I am def. gonna do a sequel. I haven't forgotten about Who Are You? I've been concentrating on this one, why? I'm not sure. And, I'm giving Cruz a Honda Civic. I changed my plans. This is chapter 8 and then I'm gonna have a quick epilogue. Then I'm gonna do the sequel. If anyone knows how tall Tia Texada is, tell me.

Shorty, thank you for the reviews and I am actually planning something like that....

Standard Disclaimer: I own Kaylee, Theresa and whoever else you've never seen before and that's it. Please don't sue me. I have nothing.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

Don't Let Me Go

Chapter 8

2 days later at 12:32pm, Cruz was wheeling Kaylee out of the hospital. Cruz Wasn't she supposed to get out in only a day? She sighed. Doctors.

"Mom!" Kaylee whined. "I don't need a wheelchair. I'm fine. My arm doesn't even hurt." Kaylee still had her cast on. Dr. Nara said it was a small break and should be healed in 4 weeks.

"I know your fine, but it's the rules of the hospital." Cruz explained.

Kaylee sat back in the chair, crossing her good arm in front of her chest.

Cruz Damn, she's a lot like me. Why didn't I see this before?

They got to the doors in the main entrance and they opened automatically.

Kaylee looked up at Cruz. "Can I get outta this chair now?"

Cruz tried not to smile. "Yeah." She went over to the valet and give him her ticket.

Kaylee jumped up like a bat outta hell. "Am I going to your house now?"

Cruz nodded.

"What happened to Theresa?" Kaylee asked, looking at Cruz.

"We're finding people that work for or with her. We're getting close, okay?"

Kaylee nodded. "And I never haveta go back there again, right?"

"Right." Cruz agreed.

"Kay."

During the past two days, Cruz was with Kaylee for mostly every single minute. Swersky was very nice about the whole thing and let Cruz take 1 week of unused vacation time to help get Kaylee settled in at her place. Cruz hasn't been to the House in two days, but now she has to take Kaylee so they can have a better description.

"We're going to our apartment, then I haveta take you into my.." she paused. "..police place."

"Why?"

"I need you to give me a description of Theresa. Then, there's gonna be a room and there's gonna be women in there. The cop is going to ask you if you see her in that room."

"Okay."

"This might take awhile." Cruz warned.

Kaylee's eyes lit up. "Do I get to meet the people you work with?"

"If you wanna, yeah." Cruz could just imagine when Sully, Davis, Faith, and Bosco hear Kaylee call her Mommy. I'd give anything to see that. she thought, laughing to herself.

The valet pulled Cruz's Civic around and gave her the keys.

"Thank you."

The valet nodded.

"Mom, when am I going to school?"

"You wanna go to school?" Cruz asked, shocked.

Kaylee blushed. "Kinda."

"Hey, that's okay. Don't feel bad for wanting to learn."

Kaylee looked at Cruz. "Okay. Can we go home now?"

Cruz smiled. "Yep." Cruz got Kaylee's stuff from the hospital into the car and then finally got Kaylee into the car, in the backseat. To Cruz's surprise, Kaylee didn't argue with her on that one. Cruz got in the car and began to drive home.

Kaylee I can't believe how lucky I am. I get to go to school and I have the bestest mommy ever!

Cruz was driving along, and she looked at Kaylee in the mirror. I can't believe I'm a Mommy. I wasn't expecting that until.... ever "When we get home, we'll get settled, maybe take showers.."

Kaylee interrupted. "I don't have any other clothing except the ones from the hospital."

Cruz Oh yeah, we were here about 3 days ago.

"Right. Okay, do you know where you get clothes?"

"Nope."

"Okay, let's go to.." she trailed off. She was looking out the window at any place that would have children's clothing. "How about Kids R Us?"

"Okay."

Cruz That place is cheap, right? She turned left and surprisingly there was a parking lot in the back. She found a spot in the back, parked and got out of the car. She opened Kaylee's door and Kaylee jumped out. Cruz locked the door and started walking towards the entrance. She stopped. "C'mon, Kaylee, it's okay." she reassured her.

Kaylee ran up to Cruz and Cruz took her hand.

"You wanna sit in a wagon?"

Kaylee nodded.

Cruz found a wagon and picked Kaylee up and put her in the front seat.

Cruz studied Kaylee for a minute.

"What?" Kaylee asked.

"You have sweat pants on." Cruz stated.

"Okay."

"Do you like sweat pants?"

Kaylee nodded. "They're comfortable."

"Okay, we'll get you some of those."

They entered the store and spent an hour shopping. By the time they were back in the car, Kaylee now owned 3 pairs of sweat pants, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 six packs of underwear, 6 shirts and 1 pair of Nike sneakers.

"Now, this is just to start you off." Cruz told her.

"Okay." Kaylee sounded happy.

"Let's go home."

10 minutes later they were climbing up the stairs in the apartment building, Cruz struggling with what they just bought and Kaylee struggling with the tiny amount of stuff she had from the hospital. Finally, they reached the 8th floor.

"Aren't there elevators?" Kaylee asked, out of breath.

"They're broken."

Cruz got her keys out and they walked to their apartment. Cruz opened the door and they dropped all the bags on the floor of the living room. Kaylee plopped down on the couch.

Cruz plopped down right next to her. "Do you know how to take a shower?"

Kaylee thought. "I took one in the hospital, it was hard though 'cause of my arm."

Cruz She did? Oh yeah, she did. "Okay, never mind. Come with me and I'll show you how the knobs work. We'll figure out how to do it with your arm."

Kaylee slid off the couch and followed Cruz into the bathroom.

Kaylee took a detour and peeked her head into Cruz's bedroom. "Do you have another bedroom?"

A light bulb went on in Cruz's head. Shit. I knew there was a problem with this. Cruz turned to Kaylee. "No."

"Where do I sleep?"

Cruz thought quickly. I'm gonna haveta get a bigger apartment. "You're gonna sleep in my room."

"Your room ain't that big." Kaylee pointed out.

"I know. But my bed is. It's a king size."

Kaylee looked confused. "Does a king sleep in there with you?"

Cruz I wish. "No. That means it's the biggest kind of bed. We're not gonna stay here forever. When you get settled with me, we're gonna move into a bigger apartment and you're gonna get your own room." Cruz looked at Kaylee who was trying to absorb this. She went behind and gently guided her into the bathroom.

"This one's the hot water, this one's the cold water. This is how you turn it on." Cruz pointed out the certain knobs.

"Okay." Kaylee looked unsure.

"Do you wanna take a shower first?"

Kaylee shook her head no.

"When I get out, I'm gonna call for you. When I call, you come in here." Cruz told her.

Kaylee nodded.

"Shove over my clothes and put your new ones away. Don't strain your arm." Cruz That should keep her busy

Kaylee went into the living room and got the bags. She brought them into Cruz's room one at a time..

Cruz followed Kaylee and went into her draws. She pulled out the clothes she'd wear to take Kaylee into the precinct. Cruz turned to Kaylee. "I'll be out in 15 minutes."

Kaylee began going thru her new clothes and putting them in piles.

Cruz watched Kaylee and smiled to herself.

Cruz took her shower in record time. She left the shampoo and conditioner bottles open so Kaylee wouldn't haveta open them. She was out in 13 minutes. She pulled the towel around her and dried herself as fast as she could. She put her clothes on and opened the door.

"Kaylee." she called.

Kaylee appeared in the bathroom door way, clothing in hand. She put them down on the counter and walked over to Cruz.

Cruz showed Kaylee how to do the knobs, and put a plastic bag over her cast. Before she knew it, Kaylee hopped into the shower.

"If you have a problem, yell."

Kaylee nodded.

"Do you want me to come in and help you get dry?" Cruz asked.

Kaylee nodded again, this time shyly. "I was never good at that."

"Give me a yell when you're done."

"Kay."

20 minutes later Cruz heard "Mommy!"

Smiling to herself, she hurried into the bathroom.

"Did you wash your hair?"

Kaylee nodded.

"Did you condition it?"

Kaylee nodded.

"Did you wash your body?"

Kaylee nodded.

"Okay." She took the plastic bag off and brought in a blue towel. She wrapped it around Kaylee.

15 minutes later Kaylee was dry and clean, dressed in a pair of blue sweat pants and a blue shirt that said Spoiled.

"You ready to go the pre- police place?"

Kaylee looked happy. "Yeah!" she exclaimed.

"Go put on your sneakers."

In a second, Kaylee was back, dragging her sneakers behind her by the laces. She sat down on the floor and put them on struggling a bit.

Cruz went over to her and told her to stick out her foot.

Kaylee did so and Cruz tied the sneakers for her.

"Do you wanna get a pillow?" Cruz asked randomly. Off of Kaylee's confused look, she added, "Do you wanna buy a pillow? A nice, soft and new one. Mine are all old."

"Sure."

"We'll go to Bed, Bath & Beyond after we go to my work."

Cruz grabbed her keys and Kaylee took her hand. They walked out of the door.

In the car, Kaylee started to get nervous. "What if Theresa takes me back?" she asked, her voice cracking.

Cruz pulled the Civic over. "She can't do that. I'll be right there with you the whole time. I promise."

Kaylee wanted to unbuckle her seat belt so she could crawl up to the front seat. She tried to do it by herself but she couldn't. Cruz heard her messing with it so she turned around and helped her. Kaylee got out of the seatbelt and Cruz opened the back door. Kaylee got out of the car and Cruz opened the drivers door. Kaylee climbed in and sat against Cruz. Cruz put her arms over her and hugged her protectively. "Trust me. Ain't nobody gonna hurt you."

Kaylee smiled, knowing Ritza was telling the truth.

"Arite, you gotta get back, 'cause we're a little late."

Cruz opened the door and Kaylee climbed out. Cruz leaned back and opened the passenger door behind her. Kaylee climbed into the back seat, reluctantly.

Cruz helped her get the seat belt on and she was back on the road.

7 minutes later, they pulled onto the street. Cruz parked the car and went around to get Kaylee out.

"Are you ready?" Cruz asked.

Kaylee nodded.

They walked into the precinct.

Swersky looked up and saw Cruz and a little girl. "So this is Kaylee?" he asked.

Kaylee looked up at Cruz.

Cruz bent down to Kaylee's height. "This is Lieutenant Swersky."

Kaylee gave him a small smile.

"Wait here for a sec." Cruz told her.

She went up to Swersky. "Am I allowed to be with her during the description and line up?"

Swersky looked at the little girl, alone and scared. He nodded.

Cruz didn't say anything, but her eyes had the look of gratitude in them.

She went back over to Kaylee and took her hand.

Bosco and Faith were coming down the stairs, when they first saw Cruz walking with Kaylee, holding her hand. Bosco almost fell down the rest of the stairs and Faith almost had a heart attack.

Cruz gave them a small smile and stopped walking.

Kaylee turned around when she felt Cruz stop. "Mommy? Why did you stop?"

Cruz That could NOT have happened any better. "I want you to meet these people."

Kaylee walked and stood right in front of Cruz. Cruz put her hand on her shoulder.

"Kaylee, this is Officer Boscorelli or Bosco and this is Officer Yokas."

Kaylee stared at Faith. "I remember you."

Faith smiled. "I was with you when you first met um.. Ritza." It nearly killed her to say that, and Cruz knew it. Inside she was laughing her ass off.

"Oh yeah!" Kaylee exclaimed. Kaylee And I said I didn't like you, ha!

"And you were with Bosco for a minute when I had to talk to Faith."

Cruz looked at Bosco to see if he even remembered. To her surprise, a look of familiarity was on his face.

"Hey Kaylee." He gave Cruz a questioning look.

"Is Monroe here yet?" Cruz asked, ignoring the look.

"Yeah, I think she's in the locker room." Faith answered. Sully would shit his pants if he ever saw Cruz with a little girl like this.

Cruz reached down and picked Kaylee up. "I don't want you to get ran over with all these big people, okay?"

Kaylee smiled and nodded. She leaned her head against Cruz's shoulder.

Cruz carried Kaylee to the locker room. She pushed the door open and saw Monroe closing her locker. Cruz carried Kaylee over to her.

Monroe turned around and almost fell. "Cruz, who, what?" She couldn't speak.

Cruz smiled. "Sasha, this is Kaylee. Kaylee this is Sasha Monroe." Cruz put Kaylee down and Kaylee stayed close to Cruz.

Monroe looked at Kaylee. "Hi."

"Hi." Kaylee replied shyly.

"Kaylee is the little girl from the abuse case that I'm gonna adopt." Cruz explained.

"Oh."

"We gotta go. I'll talk to ya later."

Monroe nodded, still in shock

Cruz !Hey we gotta stay friendly. I may need her to babysit.

Cruz picked Kaylee up again and they went out the door.

Kaylee's pulse sped up and she started to get scared.

Cruz brushed Kaylee's hair back from her ear. "How you feelin?" she asked.

"Nervous."

"I'll be right there with you." Cruz reminded her.

Kaylee nodded.

Cruz pushed open a door and went inside.

There was a man standing in the corner talking on his cell phone.

Cruz walked over to the table and put Kaylee down. She leaned down to Kaylee's level and whispered, "Sit in the chair", to her.

Kaylee sat.

Cruz walked over to the man. She cleared her throat.

The man jumped and turned around. "I gotta go," he said into his phone.

"Sergeant Cruz." she announced herself. "Kaylee Castillo." she nodded at Kaylee.

"Detective Warrick." The man said. He looked confused. "Why are you here?"

"She trusts me and won't do this without me here."

"Is she old enough to do this?"

"She's 7 ½."

He nodded and walked over to the table.

"Hi Kaylee." He said warmly.

"Hi." she whispered.

He sat down in a chair across from her. "Kaylee, I need to ask you some questions about your mother."

Kaylee looked at Cruz.

"Not me, Theresa."

"Oh. I don't wanna talk about her. I'm just gonna tell you what she looks like." Kaylee told Warrick.

He smiled. "I need you to tell me what she did to you."

Kaylee squirmed in her chair, not wanting to talk.

"Kaylee." Warrick said gently.

"What?" She snapped.

Warrick looked at Cruz. She shook her head as if saying 'you ain't gonna win'. He sighed.

"What does she look like?"

"She has brown eyes, long brown hair, she's taller than Mommy.."

"Wait, what?"

Kaylee looked at him annoyed for interrupting her. "Mommy." She repeated and pointed to Cruz.

"I'm adopting her." Cruz explained.

"Oh." He wrote what Kaylee said before down. "Sergeant, how tall are you?"

"5.2."

"How much taller is she?" Warrick asked. "A lot?"

Kaylee thought. "A lot."

"Do you know where you come up to on her?"

Kaylee looked confused so she looked at Cruz.

"When you stood next to Theresa, were you the same height as her leg, or her knee?"

"Um.. I was the same size as her.." She got up and stood in front of Cruz. She pointed at Cruz's upper thigh.

Warrick looked down at the paper, trying to hide his small grin.

Cruz I wonder what's going on in his mind. she thought sarastically.

Kaylee sat down again.

"Was she fat or thin?" Warrick asked.

"She was skinny."

"What color skin?"

"Like mine."

"Roll up your sleeve, Kaylee." Cruz instructed.

Kaylee obeyed, it took her awhile and finally Cruz reached over and pulled it up gently for her.

"Did she have any marks on her face?" he asked, noting the color of Kaylee's skin.

"She had a mark right here." Kaylee pointed right under her right eye.

"What was your address?"

Kaylee thought. "I don't know, but the last time I was with her, we were in Queens."

"Okay, Kaylee. I need you to wait here for awhile, okay?"

Kaylee nodded. "Why?"

"We're gonna bring in women that we think may be Theresa. They're gonna go into a room, and you're gonna tell us if she's there."

"Okay." She sat back in her chair.

"Sergeant, may I speak with you?"

Cruz nodded and followed Warrick outside.

"I think we may have her."

"You have Theresa?" Cruz echoed.

Warrick nodded grimly.

"Can we do the line up now?"

Warrick nodded. "I'll go get everyone ready. I'll be with you and her to make sure there's no hinting."

"Fine." Cruz went back inside the room.

"We may have the line up quicker than we thought."

"That's good, right?" Kaylee asked hopefully.

"Very."

Detective Warrick came back into the room. "We're ready. Let's go."

Cruz whispered to Kaylee. "Do you want me to carry you?"

She nodded.

Cruz picked Kaylee up and followed Warrick out of the room. They went down the hall into a tiny room with a large mirror.

Another detective came into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Detective Moore." She introduced herself.

Cruz nodded but didn't say anything back.

"This is Sergeant Cruz and Kaylee." Warrick whispered.

Moore nodded.

Warrick pushed the intercom button. "Send them in."

Four women came one by one into view, each holding a number.

After # 4 came in, Kaylee pointed and started to get squimish. "Mommy, I wanna go!" she cried.

"I need you to stay until all the women come out. Okay?" Warrick asked impatiently.

Kaylee had tears welling up in her eyes. She looked up at Cruz. "Mommy." she started to cry.

"I know, sweetie, but she can't see you or hear you." she said soothingly. She gave a dirty look to Warrick.

He shrugged back to her. He pushed the intercom button. "Hold it for awhile." He sighed.

Cruz bent down to Kaylee's level. "Kaylee, can you do this?" Cruz asked.

Kaylee took a deep breath. She nodded slowly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Kaylee said impatiently.

Cruz stood up. "Warrick!" she yelled.

"I'm standing right here." He replied. "Is she okay?"

Cruz gave him an even dirtier look than before.

"Yes, but if you make her cry again, I swear to god, I WILL hurt you."

Warrick gave Cruz a dirty look and glanced at Detective Moore. She had a smile on her face. He sighed. Warrick Just have all the women come together and hate me. "Kaylee, remember I need you to tell me what number Theresa is."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. How dumb does he think I am?

The 2 last women came into the room. The guard told each of them to come foward and give their profile. When # 6 finished Warrick turned to Kaylee.

"Do you see her?"

Kaylee nodded.

"What number?" he asked gently.

"Number 4." she whispered and turned around in Cruz's arms so her head wasn't facing the window.

"Can we go?" Cruz asked.

Warrick nodded.

They left the room. Kaylee had a tear falling out of her eye.

"It's okay, it's over. She's gone. She couldn't see you." Cruz comforted her.

She walked down stairs still holding Kaylee and stroking her back.

Cruz Something's been bugging me, what the hell is it? Oh, yeah. She got raped too... Cruz's brain froze for a second, as she remembered what happened to her. She shuddered.

"Mommy? What's wrong?" Kaylee asked.

"Nothing, I just felt cold for a second. I'm okay."

Cruz I should talk to her about the rape, but I can't do that. She's only 7 ½. I'll talk to her when she gets older about it. But maybe I should just bring it up gently. She may have nightmares. So maybe I should wait til then. she decided. She knew that she was procrastinating, but it was something she really didn't wanna do.

Swersky looked at Cruz and Kaylee. Judging by how Kaylee was acting, he guessed they got her.

"Sarge, I need to talk to you." Swersky stated.

"Later." She replied firmly.

"Sarge.."

"Later." She repeated. And with that she walked out the door of the precinct.

She carried Kaylee to the car and opened the back seat, struggling with one hand. She got it open and placed Kaylee inside. She fastened her seatbelt and opened her own door. After fastening her own belt, she started the car and drove home.

"Are we getting a pillow?" Kaylee asked.

"Of course we are." Cruz How the hell did she remember that? She turned the car around and went the other way.

10 minutes later, they were pulling into Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Cruz got her and Kaylee out of the car and found a wagon. After placing Kaylee in the wagon seat, Cruz entered the store.

"Damn." she said looking around.

Kaylee giggled.

"You think that's funny?" Cruz asked smiling.

Kaylee nodded.

They went to the Bed part of the store and after a lot of looking, Kaylee finally found a pillow.

"I need pillow cases."

"I have those at home."

"Okay."

Cruz and Kaylee went on line and waited.

After waiting for 5 minutes they were finally next.

The clerk took the pillow. "$19.96"

Cruz $19.96 for a pillow? What the hell? I might as well make one Cruz sighed and gave him a 20.

She got her change back and took the bag. She wheeled Kaylee out. She put the bag in the back seat and then picked Kaylee up and placed her right next to it. She buckled her in and closed the door. Finally they were going home.

Kaylee's stomach rumbled while they were in the car. Cruz checked the clock and found out it was 3:18. Cruz glanced at Kaylee in the mirror. "You hungry?"

Kaylee nodded.

"Aright, we went food shopping 3 days ago, and I really haven't been home much, so we have food." Cruz Finally, I'll get home.

The ride home was uneventful.

As soon as they walked in the door of the apartment, Cruz's cell phone rang.

"Cruz."

"Cruz, it's Swersky, we have Theresa."

"You do?"

"Did you not just hear me? Yes we do."

Cruz looked over at Kaylee who was rumaging thru the refrigerator.

"Ok."

"We may need the girl to testify."

"Only if Theresa isn't there."

Swersky gritted his teeth. "Maritza, I know how you feel, but Theresa won't be able to touch or say anything to Kaylee, you know that."

"I know that," Cruz snapped. "You shoulda seen her today during the line up. She was not in good shape. And she knew that pyscho bitch couldn't see her or hear her." She took another look at Kaylee. Kaylee was now looking for food on the counter. "If I testify, and we get the doctor to testify, isn't that enough?"

Swersky paused. "Maybe."

"She's only 7 ½, the A.D.A can't seriously expect her to testify."

"Was she raped?" Swersky asked.

Cruz froze. She didn't say a word for a minute.

"Cruz, Maritza!" Swersky shouted.

Cruz cleared her throat and managed to find her voice. "Yes." she whispered.

"You gotta talk to her about that."

"She's too young. If she has nightmares about it, that's a different story. If she doesn't get older then when she gets older, I'm gonna talk to her about it."

Swersky sighed. "Fine."

Cruz hung up.

Kaylee looked up. "Mommy?"

Cruz looked at her. She had cheese doodles in her hand and her hand was all orange. She couldn't help but smile.

Cruz went over to the couch and sat down. "So you wanna hear the rest of 'The Wizard of Oz'?"

Kaylee nodded and ran over to Cruz, excitedly.

Cruz got up and got the book and sat back down.

Cruz pulled Kaylee into her lap. "Where were we up to?" she asked.

Kaylee shrugged. "I don't know. Read it from the beginning."

Cruz agreed. "We'll start all over." Cruz In more ways than one...

Epilogue up soon!

Okay, I know that was really long, and I'm sorry. Please REVIEW! I'll have the epilogue up soon, I promise. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the other ones. I had a lotta fun writing this, I hope you had as much fun reading it.

SargeCruz


	9. Epilogue

Hey people! I hope ya all like chapter 8, and I wanna say sorry again for making it sooo long. So, here's the epilogue, I'm so sad, but I'm definatley doing a sequel. Oh just a quick note, for some reason my little things with the person's thoughts, didn't come up last time, I'm not sure why, but if you kept reading, THANK YOU!

Djrrox- thank you for the height. :)

shorty- thank u for the review and don't worry! im gonna do that in the sequel! I just think that Kaylee's too young... :)

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Kaylee and whoever else you don't know.

Don't Let Me Go

Epilogue

4 months later

Cruz walked out of the court house feeling like she was floating, a rare occurrence for her.

The court house was only 2 blocks from the precinct. She took Kaylee's hand and they walked to the house. During the walk, each was silent and thinking about what had happened.

During the past 4 months, Kaylee had been living with Cruz, going to school in the first grade and being a normal happy little girl. Her arm had healed, it took 2 months instead of the expected one, but was now back to normal.

The A.D.A didn't make Kaylee testify against her mother, Cruz and Dr. Nara's testimonies was enough. Theresa Castillo (or Theresa Vilar) is going to be spending the next 30 years of her life in jail. She was charged with Child Endangerment, Child Abuse, Kidnapping and a couple more charges. She won't see the light of day again until 2034.

Today, July 16, 2004, Kaylee is legally Cruz's daughter. Her full name is Kaylee Alicia Cruz. In the fall, Kaylee will be entering 3rd grade. She just turned 8 two weeks ago. During the last 3 months of school, she put so much effort into her school work, her teacher decided she can skip second grade and be with kids her age, as long as she keeps up the great work.

Cruz I can't believe it! She's finally mine. Cruz looked down at Kaylee, who was smiling and hugging her leg as they were walking.

"Kaylee Cruz." Kaylee said out loud, wanting to hear it herself.

Cruz nodded. "Kaylee Cruz." she repeated. It sounded perfect.

Cruz and Kaylee walked up the stairs of the precinct.

"Hey Sarge." Swersky greeted her. "Hi Kaylee."

"Hey."

Kaylee smiled at him. "Hi." She's spent so much time there with her mother, that it's like a second home. She likes seeing all the officers, who she's come to know by name and they in turn have come to know her very well. She especially likes seeing her mom being the boss. After all, she is a sergeant.

"So, she's yours now?" Swersky asked.

Cruz looked down at Kaylee. "Yep. She's mine."

"Good luck." Swersky told her, like he won't be seeing her for awhile.

"I'll still be working, it's not like you ain't gonna see me." She reminded him.

"I know, but not as much."

"The same I've been."

"Cruz!"

Cruz looked up and saw Sasha Monroe running up the stairs into the precinct from the hot summer day.

Cruz smiled watching Monroe. She looked like a crazy woman, running up the stairs like the wind. When Monroe reached them Cruz stared at her.

"What?" Monroe asked.

Cruz shook her head.

"Maritza, tell me! Is she yours?"

Cruz nodded.

"Now you and Yokas can share kid stories." She smiled playfully.

Cruz gave Sasha a look. Her rivalry with Yokas, seems childish now. Cruz's attitude is still there, but now she just saves it for work or when she gets hit on by random guys. .

During the past 4 months, Sasha and Kaylee got close especially when Sasha hurt her arm and they could commiserate together.

When Cruz had to work, Sasha almost always babysat Kaylee. Kaylee didn't like anyone else to babysit her. Monroe hugged Cruz who looked like she was about to say something, but didn't. Then Monroe hugged Kaylee.

Yokas and Bosco came down the stairs.

"Why is everyone happy?" Bosco asked, pissed off at the world, as usual.

Yokas shrugged, then she saw Cruz with Kaylee. "Today's when Cruz adopts Kaylee." she realized.

Bosco started laughing. "You think she actually got her?"

Yokas rolled her eyes. "Well, considering everyone's happy and Cruz is with Kaylee, I'd say yeah." They watched everyone and saw Cruz smiling and laughing, hugging her daughter.

"I feel bad for that little girl. Don't you?" Yokas asked

"I don't know." Bosco was studying Cruz and the little girl and a sudden thought hit him. "Cruz seems like a completely different person now with her. She's more patient, she smiles. She's not as bitchy."

Yokas gave him a look.

"She's still bitchy, but not as bad as before. I don't think anyone was as bitchy as she was before."

"True." Yokas didn't like to admit it, but the other day, she was walking and she bumped into Cruz. Yokas thought Cruz was gonna start yelling and screaming. Yokas decided to say "Watch where you're going," to try and get Cruz pissed off on purpose but to her surprise Cruz replied "I'm sorry." Then she walked away, no attitude. When Yokas told Bosco he almost fainted.

Back downstairs, Cruz wanted to be alone for a minute and think. "I'll be right back."

She walked to the stairs and saw Yokas and Bosco. "Excuse me." she said with no attitude.

Bosco I remember the first word she said to me. 'Move.' and now she says excuse me?

Bosco went down a stair to give her room.

Cruz walked up and brushed past Yokas, hitting her arm. She turned back

Yokas stared at her.

"Sorry," Cruz stated, not wanting to start a fight and walked past Yokas.

"Sarge." Yokas shouted.

Cruz turned, prepared for the worst.

"If you ever need a babysitter, Emily's 17.", Yokas offered.

Cruz glanced at Bosco. His mouth was wide open. "Thanks." She replied, shocked.

Yokas nodded and walked down the stairs, quickly followed by Bosco.

Cruz walked to her desk and sat down. She thought about how much Kaylee's changed her. Wondering what would've happened if Kaylee never ran into her, Cruz had a tear sliding down her face. She brushed it away and went back downstairs, deciding today wasn't a day to be depressed..

Cruz still hasn't talked to Kaylee about the rape. Swersky didn't push her. She looked down at her daughter. Monroe was saying something and making her laugh. Cruz I can't talk to her about it, not now. When she's older. she promised herself and picked Kaylee up.

Kaylee hugged her mommy and whispered into her ear, "Don't let me go, Mommy, ever."

Cruz smiled and whispered back. "I won't, I promise."

THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I know how cheesy the last two lines were, but I had to put them in, I'm sorry!!!!!!!!! Now, people, when you review, if you want, you can give me some ideas for the sequel, cuz I have some, but I can always use more!!!! The first chapter of the sequel should be up in two weeks, maybe less or maybe more. Stay tuned!!!!!!

SargeCruz


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